figure of speech
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun: A figure of speech is a word or phrase used in a non-literal, imaginative, or metaphorical way to create a specific effect, such as emphasis, clarity, or vividness in language. It deviates from the ordinary, literal meaning of words to convey a more complex idea or a striking image.
Usage
A figure of speech is used to add rhetorical force, beauty, or creativity to writing and speech. It is a fundamental tool in poetry, literature, rhetoric, and everyday expressive language.
Examples
- Metaphor is a common figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. (e.g., "Time is a thief.")
- The author's prose is rich with inventive figures of speech, like similes and personification.
- When she said she had "butterflies in her stomach," she was using a figure of speech to describe nervousness.
Advanced Usage
- To employ/use a figure of speech: To deliberately utilize a figurative expression.
- The politician employed a powerful figure of speech to rally the crowd.
- As a figure of speech: Used to clarify that a statement is not meant literally.
- "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse," he said as a figure of speech.
Variants and Related Words
- Figurative language (n): The broader category of language that uses figures of speech; non-literal language in general.
- Trope (n): A significant or recurring theme, motif, or figure of speech, often used in literary criticism.
- Rhetorical device (n): A technique a writer or speaker uses to persuade or convey meaning, which often includes figures of speech.
Synonyms
- Expression
- Idiom (specifically for a fixed, non-literal phrase whose meaning cannot be deduced from the individual words)
- Image
- Metaphorical expression
Related Phrases
- Turn of phrase: A particular or characteristic manner of expression, which may involve a figure of speech.
- He has a clever turn of phrase.
Related Idioms
- To speak figuratively: To use language in a non-literal sense.
- I'm speaking figuratively, of course; I don't actually mean the sky is falling.
Noun
- language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense