rhetorical device

Noun
  1. A use of language that creates a literary effect (but often without regard for literal significance) (synset 107112859)
    referred to in: rhetoric - study of the technique and rules for using language effectively (especially in public speaking)
    is a type of: device - something in an artistic work designed to achieve a particular effect
    subtypes:
    • anacoluthia, anacoluthon - an abrupt change within a sentence from one syntactic structure to another
    • asyndeton - the omission of conjunctions where they would normally be used
    • repetition - the repeated use of the same word or word pattern as a rhetorical device
    • anastrophe, inversion - the reversal of the normal order of words
    • antiphrasis - the use of a word in a sense opposite to its normal sense (especially in irony)
    • antithesis - the juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas to give a feeling of balance
    • antinomasia - substitution of a title for a name
    • apophasis - mentioning something by saying it will not be mentioned
    • aposiopesis - breaking off in the middle of a sentence (as by writers of realistic conversations)
    • apostrophe - address to an absent or imaginary person
    • catachresis - strained or paradoxical use of words either in error (as `blatant' to mean `flagrant') or deliberately (as in a mixed metaphor: `blind mouths')
    • chiasmus - inversion in the second of two parallel phrases
    • climax - arrangement of clauses in ascending order of forcefulness
    • conversion - interchange of subject and predicate of a proposition
    • ecphonesis, exclamation - an exclamatory rhetorical device
    • emphasis - special and significant stress by means of position or repetition e.g.
    • enallage - a substitution of part of speech or gender or number or tense etc. (e.g., editorial `we' for `I')
    • epanorthosis - immediate rephrasing for intensification or justification
    • epiplexis - a rhetorical device in which the speaker reproaches the audience in order to incite or convince them
    • hendiadys - use of two conjoined nouns instead of a noun and modifier
    • hypallage - reversal of the syntactic relation of two words (as in `her beauty's face')
    • hyperbaton - reversal of normal word order (as in `cheese I love')
    • hypozeugma - use of a series of subjects with a single predicate
    • hypozeuxis - use of a series of parallel clauses (as in `I came, I saw, I conquered')
    • hysteron proteron - reversal of normal order of two words or sentences etc. (as in `bred and born')
    • litotes, meiosis - understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary)
    • onomatopoeia - using words that imitate the sound they denote
    • paraleipsis, paralepsis, paralipsis, preterition - suggesting by deliberately concise treatment that much of significance is omitted
    • paregmenon - juxtaposing words having a common derivation (as in `sense and sensibility')
    • polysyndeton - using several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted (as in `he ran and jumped and laughed for joy')
    • prolepsis - anticipating and answering objections in advance
    • wellerism - a comparison comprising a well-known quotation followed by a facetious sequel
    • figure, figure of speech, image, trope - language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense
    is a part of: rhetoric - using language effectively to please or persuade

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