figurative speech
Non-literal verbal expression
Figurative speech uses words beyond their literal meaning to create imagery, emphasis, or comparison.
Metaphors, similes, hyperbole, and personification are common forms: Life is a journey, cold as ice, I've told you a million times.
The opposite of literal speech, it appears throughout everyday language, not just poetry: That test killed me.
- litotesUnderstatement via negation
- hyperboleRhetorical extreme exaggeration
- metaphorImplied identity comparison
- simileComparison via "as"
- extended metaphorFigurative comparison throughout text
metonymy · symbolism · synecdoche · understatement · allegory · transferred epithet · turn of phrase · idiom · play on words · oxymoron · personification · analogy · allusion · implied meaning · irony · euphemism · conceit · comparison
- literary devicesmetaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, alliteration
- figurative languagemetaphor, simile, analogy, personification, metonymy
- proverbsproverbs, sayings, maxims, adages, aphorisms
- expressionsexpression, I love you, phrase, idioms, thank you
- literary termsmetaphor, character analysis, symbolism, prologue, epilogue
- ambiguityambiguity, ambivalence, double meaning, vagueness, equivocation
directness of expression
figurative speechplain speech
Unembellished verbal expression
direct speech · plain language · explicit language · straight talk · plain talk