hyperbole
use of exaggerated terms for emphasis
irony
a contrast between expectation or appearance and reality
situational irony
a "plot twist" in which the outcome is the opposite of what is expected
verbal irony
when one thing is said, but something else is meant
dramatic irony
the audience knows something that the character does not know
isocolon
use of parallel structures of the same length in successive clauses
litotes
a form of understatement (meiosis) that emphasizes the magnitude of a statement by denying its opposite
meiosis
understatement (opposite of hyperbole)
metaphor
an implied comparison of two things (treating one as though it is the other)
metonymy
replacing an idea with an associated idea
oxymoron
the juxtaposition of two contradictory terms
paradox
the use of apparently contradictory ideas to point out some underlying truth
parallelism
repetition of syntactic structure in two or more clauses
personification
describing something nonhuman in metaphorical human terms
polysyndeton
repetition of conjunctions
rhetorical question (erotema)
asking a question not for the sake of getting an answer but for asserting something
simile
an explicit comparison between two things (stating that one is similar to the other)
synecdoche
replacing a part with a whole, or a whole with a part
zeugma
when two or more parts of a sentence are syntactically governed by a single common verb or noun, which may change meaning with respect to the other words it modifies