Figurative Language Definition

The repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words. It is used to reinforce the meanings of words or to set the mood.

• irony

• alliteration

• assonance

• metaphor

The use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience.

• metaphor

• hyperbole

• onomatopoeia

• imagery

A figure of speech that uses incredible exaggeration, or overstatement, for effect.

• simile

• hyperbole

• oxymoron

• tone

The feeling created in the reader by the poem or story.

• tone

• mood

• personification

• metaphor

The attitude a writer takes toward the subject of a work, the characters, or the audience.

• allusion

• imagery

• mood

• tone

The repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together.

• alliteration

• assonance

• allusion

• simile

A reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or some other branch of culture.

• simile

• allusion

• irony

• oxymoron

A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of like or as.

• personification

• onomatopoeia

• simile

• metaphor

A figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two unlike things, using the words like or as.

• metaphor

• simile

• personifiation

• onomatopoeia

The use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning.

• onomatopoeia

• simile

• metaphor

• hyperbole