Figurative LanguageBy: Keivon Webb

Simile

Comparison of two things using a “like” or “as”

Example: His clothes were as brighter than the sun

Hyperbole

Exaggerating to show strong feeling or effect

Example: I have a ton of homework

Alliteration

The repetition of the first constant sound in words

Example: Look at the leaning tower of leopards

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God

Example: she has a stone heart

Personification

Giving living actions to a nonhuman thing

Example: the tree reached out and grabbed me

Onomatopoeia The formation of a word, as cuckoo,

meow, honk,  or boom,  by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent

Example: Splash

Idiom

Expressions that don’t exactly mean what they say

Example: Its raining cats and dogs outside

Understatement

A disclosure or statement that is less than complete.

A soiled baby, with a neglected nose, cannot be conscientiously regarded as a thing of beauty