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DIRECTORY OF LOGOPHILE LIBRARY
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About | New| Feedback | Help | Home | Sitemaps
Reference Corner: helpful guide to help you learn more about language and words
DIRECTORY OF LOGOPHILE LIBRARY
words are categorized by chapters in individual lists or features. Features are by topic & present extensive vocabulary, research, articles & narratives.
Home Page ~ Word List Index ~ Featured Words
Literary, Language, Writing and Words
Obscure, Rare, Unusual and Obsolete
Creative, Deep, Intellectual and Profound
Dark, Melancholic, Mystical and Risqué
The Universe and World We Live In
The Exotic Languages of the World
DISCOVER MORE WORDS
This Site is Part of a Series of Beautiful Words
Books - Blogs - Guides - Narratives ~ Manuals
VOCABULARY GUIDES | VIEW ALL MY GUIDES
SEARCH THIS SITE FOR WORDS
Search site below or use Advanced Search to search the site & content in my vocabulary books.
RHETORICAL RHAPSODY HOME
Download Rhapsody as a Word Guide
DIRECTORY OF DEVICES
Dramatic Imagery and Expressive Emphasis
Tale of Context and Meaning
Slapstick Comedy of Humor and Wit
The Creative Use of Language
Rhetorical Repetition for Emphasis
Relating to the Word Relations
The Art of a Persuasive Argument
GLOSSARIES OF RHETORIC
Factoring in the Figures of Speech
Methods to Heighten Dramatic Effect
Glossary of Rhetorical Terms
See Also: Literary Devices | Poetic Devices
THE RHAPSODY IS A SPECIAL FEATURE OF
TOUCH OF THE INTELLECT
Knowledge - Profound - Speech ~ Grammar
Creativity ~ Technology - Academics
Download Rhapsody as a Word Guide
DIRECTORY OF DEVICES
Dramatic Imagery and Expressive Emphasis
Tale of Context and Meaning
Slapstick Comedy of Humor and Wit
The Creative Use of Language
Rhetorical Repetition for Emphasis
Relating to the Word Relations
The Art of a Persuasive Argument
GLOSSARIES OF RHETORIC
Factoring in the Figures of Speech
Methods to Heighten Dramatic Effect
Glossary of Rhetorical Terms
See Also: Literary Devices | Poetic Devices
THE RHAPSODY IS A SPECIAL FEATURE OF
TOUCH OF THE INTELLECT
Knowledge - Profound - Speech ~ Grammar
Creativity ~ Technology - Academics
DIRECTORY OF GLOSSARIES
FACTORING IN THE FIGURES OF SPEECH
Schemas ~ Tropes ~ Effects
TECHNICAL TERMS OF RHETORIC
From (A - F) ~ From (G - N) ~ From O - Z
Schemas ~ Tropes ~ Effects
TECHNICAL TERMS OF RHETORIC
From (A - F) ~ From (G - N) ~ From O - Z
FACTORING IN THE
FIGURE OF SPEECH
A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that entails an intentional deviation from ordinary language use in order to produce a rhetorical (figurative) effect.
HEIGHTEN THE EFFECTS
This glossary defines the various methods used in speech to heighten the dramatic effect. The methods are generally intended to appeal to emotion (shock, humor, indignation etc).
This list is formed of devices, figures of speech and general concepts.
This list is formed of devices, figures of speech and general concepts.
KEY TERM: AMPLIFICATION
The act and the means of extending thoughts or statements to increase rhetorical effect, to add importance, or to make the most of a thought or circumstance
Absurdity - the exaggeration of a point beyond belief
Accumulatio - the emphasis or summary of previously made points or inferences by excessive praise or accusation
Acutezza - wit or wordplay used in rhetoric
Ad hominem - rebutting an argument by attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making it rather than the substance of the argument itself
Ambigua - an ambiguous statement used in making puns
Adianoeta - a phrase carrying two meanings: an obvious meaning and a second, more subtle and ingenious one
Amphiboly or Amphibology - a sentence that may be interpreted in more than one way due to ambiguous structure
Anecdote - a brief narrative describing an interesting or amusing event
Antanaclasis - figure of speech involving a pun, consisting of the repeated use of the same word, each time with different meanings
Anticlimax - a bathetic collapse from an elevated subject to a mundane or vulgar one a specialized form of catacosmesis
Apophasis or Apophesis - pretending to deny something as a means of implicitly affirming it as paralipsis, mentioning something by saying that you will not mention it the opposite of occupatio
Aporia a declaration of doubt, made for rhetorical purpose and often feigned
Apostrophe - figure of speech consisting of a sudden turn in a text towards an exclamatory address to an imaginary person or a thing
Aporia - a declaration of doubt, made for rhetorical purpose and often feigned
Aposiopesis - an abrupt stop in the middle of a sentence; used by a speaker to convey unwillingness or inability to complete a thought or statement
Auxesis - to place words or phrases in a certain order for climactic effect
Barbarism - use of a non-standard word, expression or pronunciation in a language, particularly one prescriptively regarded as an error in morphology
Bathos - an emotional appeal that inadvertently evokes laughter or ridicule
Bdelygmia - expression of hatred or contempt
Bomphiologia - bombastic speech: a rhetorical technique wherein the speaker brags excessively
Buzzword - word or phrase used to impress, or one that is fashionable
Chreia - anecdote (a deed, a saying, a situation) involving a well-known figure
Circumlocution - use of many words where a few would do
Cookery - Plato believed rhetoric was to truth as cookery was to medicine cookery disguises itself as medicine and appears to be more pleasing, when in actuality it has no real benefit
Catachresis - the inexact use of a similar word in place of the proper one to create an unlikely metaphor for example (from rhetorica ad herennium), "the power of man is short" or "the long wisdom in the man"
Colloquialism - word or phrase that is not formal or literary, typically one used in ordinary or familiar conversation
Delectare - to delight; viewed by Cicero as one of the three goals of rhetoric
Descriptio - clear, lucid, and vivid description (especially of the potential consequences of some action)
Diminutio (related to meiosis, litotes) - a form of understatement, and implication of more than the words say
Dissoi logoi - contradictory arguments
Dramatistic - the way to look at the nature of language stressing on language as an action ex uses expressions such as 'thou shalt' and 'thou shalt not'
Dysphemism - a term with negative associations for something in reality fairly innocuous or inoffensive
Ecphonesis - sentence consisting of a single word or short phrase ending with an exclamation point
Ellipse - the suppression of ancillary words to render an expression more lively or more forceful
Elocutio - in the classical theory of the production of a speech (pronuntiatio), elocution refers to the stage of elaborating the wording of a text, using correct grammar and diction
Enallage - the switching of grammatical forms for an expressive purpose
Epideictic ceremonial rhetoric - such as might be found in a funeral or victory speech
Epithet - term used as a descriptive and qualifying substitute for the name of a person, place or thing
Eristic - communicating with the aim of winning the argument regardless of truth the idea is not necessarily to lie, but to present the communication so cleverly that the audience is persuaded by the power of the presentation
Erotema - the so-called 'rhetorical question', where a question is asked to which an answer is not expected
Ethopoeia - the act of putting oneself into the character of another to convey that persons feelings and thoughts more vividly
Exclamatio (apostrophe) - an expression of grief or indignation, addressed to a person, place, or object
Exemplum - the citation of an example, either truthful or fictitious
Fable - short allegorical story
Facetiae - Latin for humor or wit
Fictio - the attribution of rational traits to non-rational creatures
Graecismus - the use of Greek idiom
Hyperbole - a figure of speech where emphasis is achieved through exaggeration, independently or through comparison
Icon - using imagery to create resemblance
Identification - connecting with a larger group through a shared interpretation or understanding of a larger concept
Ignoratio elenchi - a conclusion that is irrelevant
Imitatio - Latin for imitation
Indignatio - to arouse indignation in the audience
Insultatio - abusing a person to his/her face by using irony and derisive language
Loci - jokes
Irony - deliberate contrast between indirect and direct meaning to draw attention to the opposite
Isocolon a string of phrases of corresponding structure and equal length
Kolakeia - flattery; telling people what they want to hear while disregarding their best interests; employed by sophistic rhetoricians
Material fallacy - false notion concerning the subject matter of an argument
Metanarrative - universal theories positing to know all aspects of humanity
Narration - storytelling, involving the elements of time, place, actor, action, cause and manner
Negatio - to negate or deny
Noema - speech that is deliberately subtle or obscure
Non sequitur - a statement bearing no relationship to the preceding context
Onomatopoeia - words that imitate the sounds, objects, or actions they refer to (ex "buzz", "hullabaloo", "bling")
Oxymoron - opposed or markedly contradictory terms joined together for emphasis
Paradiastole - Greek for redescription - usually in a better light
Paradox - an apparently absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition
Paralipsis - a form of apophasis when a rhetor introduces a subject by denying it should be discussed to speak of someone or something by claiming not to
Paraprosdokian -!a sentence in which the latter half takes an unexpected turn
Parody - to imitate something or somebody comically
Paronomasia - a pun, a play on words, often for humorous effect
Periphrasis - the substitution of many or several words where one would suffice; usually to avoid using that particular word
Personification - a figure of speech that gives human characteristics to inanimate objects, or represents an absent person as being present
Pleonasm - the use of more words than necessary to express an idea
Polysemy - the capacity of a word or phrase to render more than one meaning
Praecisio -!the act of breaking off abruptly, aposiopesis
Pragmatographia - the description of an action
Presumption - an idea that is reasonable or acceptable only until it is sufficiently challenged
Preterition - mentioning something by professing to omit it
Priamel - a series of compared alternatives which serve as foils to the true subject
Prolepsis - a literary device in which a future state is spoken of in the present; for example, a condemned man may be called a "dead man walking"
Proof surrogate - an expression used to suggest that there is evidence or authority for a claim without actually citing such evidence or authority
Prosopopoeia - speaking as another person or object; in a sense, the inverse of apostrophe
Sannio - Laton for the fool; the role to avoid when using humor in a speech
Scare-line - word or phrase that is quoted to scare the reader, or, in a political campaign, to smear an opposing candidate, or to cause an estrangement or cause something to seem unfamiliar in a supernatural way
Solecismus - ignorantly misusing tenses, cases, and genders
Soraismus - the ignorant or affected mingling of languages
Spoonerism - the deliberate or involuntary switching of sounds or morphemes between two words of a phrase, rendering a new meaning
Sprezzatura - the ability to appear that there is seemingly little effort used to attain success the art of being able to show that one is able to deceive
Straw man - an argument that is a logical fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position
Structural ambiguity - a sentence that may be interpreted in more than one way due to ambiguous structure
Synchysis - word order confusion within a sentence
Syntactic ambiguity - a sentence that may be interpreted in more than one way due to ambiguous structure
Tapinosis - language or epithet that is debasing. This term is synonymous with meiosis (figure of speech)
Topographia - the description of a place
Topothesia - the description of an imaginary or non-existent place
Tropes - figure of speech that uses a word aside from its literal meaning
Understatement - a form of irony, also called litotes, in which something is represented as less than it really is, with the intent of drawing attention to and emphasizing the opposite meaning
Validity claim - claiming to have made a correct statement
The act and the means of extending thoughts or statements to increase rhetorical effect, to add importance, or to make the most of a thought or circumstance
Absurdity - the exaggeration of a point beyond belief
Accumulatio - the emphasis or summary of previously made points or inferences by excessive praise or accusation
Acutezza - wit or wordplay used in rhetoric
Ad hominem - rebutting an argument by attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making it rather than the substance of the argument itself
Ambigua - an ambiguous statement used in making puns
Adianoeta - a phrase carrying two meanings: an obvious meaning and a second, more subtle and ingenious one
Amphiboly or Amphibology - a sentence that may be interpreted in more than one way due to ambiguous structure
Anecdote - a brief narrative describing an interesting or amusing event
Antanaclasis - figure of speech involving a pun, consisting of the repeated use of the same word, each time with different meanings
Anticlimax - a bathetic collapse from an elevated subject to a mundane or vulgar one a specialized form of catacosmesis
Apophasis or Apophesis - pretending to deny something as a means of implicitly affirming it as paralipsis, mentioning something by saying that you will not mention it the opposite of occupatio
Aporia a declaration of doubt, made for rhetorical purpose and often feigned
Apostrophe - figure of speech consisting of a sudden turn in a text towards an exclamatory address to an imaginary person or a thing
Aporia - a declaration of doubt, made for rhetorical purpose and often feigned
Aposiopesis - an abrupt stop in the middle of a sentence; used by a speaker to convey unwillingness or inability to complete a thought or statement
Auxesis - to place words or phrases in a certain order for climactic effect
Barbarism - use of a non-standard word, expression or pronunciation in a language, particularly one prescriptively regarded as an error in morphology
Bathos - an emotional appeal that inadvertently evokes laughter or ridicule
Bdelygmia - expression of hatred or contempt
Bomphiologia - bombastic speech: a rhetorical technique wherein the speaker brags excessively
Buzzword - word or phrase used to impress, or one that is fashionable
Chreia - anecdote (a deed, a saying, a situation) involving a well-known figure
Circumlocution - use of many words where a few would do
Cookery - Plato believed rhetoric was to truth as cookery was to medicine cookery disguises itself as medicine and appears to be more pleasing, when in actuality it has no real benefit
Catachresis - the inexact use of a similar word in place of the proper one to create an unlikely metaphor for example (from rhetorica ad herennium), "the power of man is short" or "the long wisdom in the man"
Colloquialism - word or phrase that is not formal or literary, typically one used in ordinary or familiar conversation
Delectare - to delight; viewed by Cicero as one of the three goals of rhetoric
Descriptio - clear, lucid, and vivid description (especially of the potential consequences of some action)
Diminutio (related to meiosis, litotes) - a form of understatement, and implication of more than the words say
Dissoi logoi - contradictory arguments
Dramatistic - the way to look at the nature of language stressing on language as an action ex uses expressions such as 'thou shalt' and 'thou shalt not'
Dysphemism - a term with negative associations for something in reality fairly innocuous or inoffensive
Ecphonesis - sentence consisting of a single word or short phrase ending with an exclamation point
Ellipse - the suppression of ancillary words to render an expression more lively or more forceful
Elocutio - in the classical theory of the production of a speech (pronuntiatio), elocution refers to the stage of elaborating the wording of a text, using correct grammar and diction
Enallage - the switching of grammatical forms for an expressive purpose
Epideictic ceremonial rhetoric - such as might be found in a funeral or victory speech
Epithet - term used as a descriptive and qualifying substitute for the name of a person, place or thing
Eristic - communicating with the aim of winning the argument regardless of truth the idea is not necessarily to lie, but to present the communication so cleverly that the audience is persuaded by the power of the presentation
Erotema - the so-called 'rhetorical question', where a question is asked to which an answer is not expected
Ethopoeia - the act of putting oneself into the character of another to convey that persons feelings and thoughts more vividly
Exclamatio (apostrophe) - an expression of grief or indignation, addressed to a person, place, or object
Exemplum - the citation of an example, either truthful or fictitious
Fable - short allegorical story
Facetiae - Latin for humor or wit
Fictio - the attribution of rational traits to non-rational creatures
Graecismus - the use of Greek idiom
Hyperbole - a figure of speech where emphasis is achieved through exaggeration, independently or through comparison
Icon - using imagery to create resemblance
Identification - connecting with a larger group through a shared interpretation or understanding of a larger concept
Ignoratio elenchi - a conclusion that is irrelevant
Imitatio - Latin for imitation
Indignatio - to arouse indignation in the audience
Insultatio - abusing a person to his/her face by using irony and derisive language
Loci - jokes
Irony - deliberate contrast between indirect and direct meaning to draw attention to the opposite
Isocolon a string of phrases of corresponding structure and equal length
Kolakeia - flattery; telling people what they want to hear while disregarding their best interests; employed by sophistic rhetoricians
Material fallacy - false notion concerning the subject matter of an argument
Metanarrative - universal theories positing to know all aspects of humanity
Narration - storytelling, involving the elements of time, place, actor, action, cause and manner
Negatio - to negate or deny
Noema - speech that is deliberately subtle or obscure
Non sequitur - a statement bearing no relationship to the preceding context
Onomatopoeia - words that imitate the sounds, objects, or actions they refer to (ex "buzz", "hullabaloo", "bling")
Oxymoron - opposed or markedly contradictory terms joined together for emphasis
Paradiastole - Greek for redescription - usually in a better light
Paradox - an apparently absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition
Paralipsis - a form of apophasis when a rhetor introduces a subject by denying it should be discussed to speak of someone or something by claiming not to
Paraprosdokian -!a sentence in which the latter half takes an unexpected turn
Parody - to imitate something or somebody comically
Paronomasia - a pun, a play on words, often for humorous effect
Periphrasis - the substitution of many or several words where one would suffice; usually to avoid using that particular word
Personification - a figure of speech that gives human characteristics to inanimate objects, or represents an absent person as being present
Pleonasm - the use of more words than necessary to express an idea
Polysemy - the capacity of a word or phrase to render more than one meaning
Praecisio -!the act of breaking off abruptly, aposiopesis
Pragmatographia - the description of an action
Presumption - an idea that is reasonable or acceptable only until it is sufficiently challenged
Preterition - mentioning something by professing to omit it
Priamel - a series of compared alternatives which serve as foils to the true subject
Prolepsis - a literary device in which a future state is spoken of in the present; for example, a condemned man may be called a "dead man walking"
Proof surrogate - an expression used to suggest that there is evidence or authority for a claim without actually citing such evidence or authority
Prosopopoeia - speaking as another person or object; in a sense, the inverse of apostrophe
Sannio - Laton for the fool; the role to avoid when using humor in a speech
Scare-line - word or phrase that is quoted to scare the reader, or, in a political campaign, to smear an opposing candidate, or to cause an estrangement or cause something to seem unfamiliar in a supernatural way
Solecismus - ignorantly misusing tenses, cases, and genders
Soraismus - the ignorant or affected mingling of languages
Spoonerism - the deliberate or involuntary switching of sounds or morphemes between two words of a phrase, rendering a new meaning
Sprezzatura - the ability to appear that there is seemingly little effort used to attain success the art of being able to show that one is able to deceive
Straw man - an argument that is a logical fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position
Structural ambiguity - a sentence that may be interpreted in more than one way due to ambiguous structure
Synchysis - word order confusion within a sentence
Syntactic ambiguity - a sentence that may be interpreted in more than one way due to ambiguous structure
Tapinosis - language or epithet that is debasing. This term is synonymous with meiosis (figure of speech)
Topographia - the description of a place
Topothesia - the description of an imaginary or non-existent place
Tropes - figure of speech that uses a word aside from its literal meaning
Understatement - a form of irony, also called litotes, in which something is represented as less than it really is, with the intent of drawing attention to and emphasizing the opposite meaning
Validity claim - claiming to have made a correct statement
FACTORING IN THE FIGURES OF SPEECH
Schemas | Tropes | Effects
TECHNICAL TERMS OF RHETORIC
Terms From (A - L) | Terms From (M - Z)
Schemas | Tropes | Effects
TECHNICAL TERMS OF RHETORIC
Terms From (A - L) | Terms From (M - Z)