stylistic flourish
Artistic ornamental detail
A stylistic flourish is an ornamental touch in writing, speech, or performance—something added for effect rather than necessity.
A writer might end with a rhetorical question; a pianist might add an elaborate trill.
The term often carries a hint of excess: The essay was solid, but the metaphors felt like stylistic flourishes rather than substance.
- metaphorImplied identity comparison
- filigreeDelicate twisted-wire ornamentation
- ornamentationDecorative additions to something
- improvisationSpontaneous, unplanned creation
- simileComparison via "as"
analogy · rhetorical device · epigram · vibrato · calligraphy · gilding · pen stroke · paradox · scrollwork · theatricality · jazz hands · over the top · cadenza · alliteration · arabesque · crescendo · flair · aphorism
stylistic flourishplainness
Unadorned, straightforward quality
simplicity · austerity · minimalism · spareness · starkness
stylistic flourishrestraint
Control over impulses
understatement · subtlety · matter-of-factness · deadpan delivery · flat affect
stylistic, flourish, styles, styled, styling, stylist, stylists, stylish, stylishly