Seven Figurative Language Terms

Comparing two things using the words "like" or "as"

• metaphor

• simile

• hyperbole

• personification

Words that imitate or mimic sounds they represent

• hyperbole

• simile

• onomatopoiea

• alliteration

The use of repeated beginning sounds of words near each other in lines of poetry or sentences

• hyperbole

• personification

• metaphor

• alliteration

Phrases that are not meant to be taken literally; over time, they have developed their own meaning quite different from the actual word definitions

• metaphor

• simile

• hyperbole

• idiom

Comparing two things without using the words "like" or "as"

• simile

• metaphor

• alliteration

• personification

Giving human qualities to non-human things

• alliteration

• personification

• hyperbole

• simile

Extreme exaggeration used to have an emphasis or effect

• idiom

• hyperbole

• metaphor

• simile

Language that expresses ideas in a creative or imaginative manner rather than literally

• expressive language

• fun language

• figurative language

• literal language

This sentence has TWO examples of figurative language. What are they?

The whispering wind danced through the trees.

• personification

• simile

• metaphor

• alliteration

This sentence contains two examples of figurative language. What are they?

I am as mad as a hen when my students go bananas.

• simile

• metaphor

• idiom

• alliteration