Alphabetical list of all figures of speech?

Answer 1

There are seven elements of communication:

Source idea

Message

Encoding

Channel

Receiver

Decoding

Feedback

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Answer 2

The Top 20 Figures

Alliteration

The repetition of an initial consonant sound.

Anaphora

The repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses. (Contrast with epiphora and epistrophe.)

Antithesis

The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases.

Apostrophe

Breaking off discourse to address some absent person or thing, some abstract quality, an inanimate object, or a nonexistent character.

Assonance

Identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words.

Chiasmus

A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed.

Euphemism

The substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit.

Hyperbole

An extravagant statement; the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.

Irony

The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. A statement or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea.

Litotes

A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.

Metaphor

An implied comparison between two unlike things that actually have something important in common.

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated; also, the rhetorical strategy of describing something indirectly by referring to things around it.

Onomatopoeia

The use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side.

Paradox

A statement that appears to contradict itself.

Personification

A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or abilities.

Pun

A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.

Simile

A stated comparison (usually formed with "like" or "as") between two fundamentally dissimilar things that have certain qualities in common.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole (for example, ABCs foralphabet) or the whole for a part ("England won the World Cup in 1966").

Understatement

A figure of speech in which a writer or a speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is.

Answer 3

SchemesMain article: Scheme (linguistics)

• accumulation: Summary of previous arguments in a forceful manner
• adnomination: Repetition of a word with a change in letter or sound
• alliteration: Series of words that begin with the same consonant or sound alike
• adynaton: hyperbole taken to such extreme lengths as to suggest a complete impossibility.
• anacoluthon: Change in the syntax within a sentence
• anadiplosis: Repetition of a word at the end of a clause at the beginning of another
• anaphora: Repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses
• anastrophe: Inversion of the usual word order
• anticlimax: Arrangement of words in order of decreasing importance
• antimetabole: Repetition of words in successive clauses, in reverse order
• antistrophe: Repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses (see epistrophe)
• antithesis: Juxtaposition of opposing or contrasting ideas
• aphorismus: Statement that calls into question the definition of a word
• aposiopesis: Breaking off or pausing speech for dramatic or emotional effect
• apostrophe: Directing the attention away from the audience and to a personified abstraction
• apposition: Placing of two elements side by side, in which the second defines the first
• assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds, most commonly within a short passage of verse
• asteismus: Facetious or mocking answer that plays on a word
• asyndeton: Omission of conjunctions between related clauses
• cacophony: Juxtaposition of words producing a harsh sound
• cataphora: Co-reference of one expression with another expression which follows it (example: If you need one, there's a towel in the top drawer.)
• classification: Linking a proper noun and a common noun with an article
• chiasmus: Word order in one clause is inverted in the other (inverted parallelism).
• climax: Arrangement of words in order of increasing importance
• commoratio: Repetition of an idea, re-worded
• conversion (linguistics): An unaltered transformation of a word of one word class into another word class
• consonance: Repetition of consonant sounds, most commonly within a short passage of verse
• dystmesis: A synonym for tmesis
• ellipsis: Omission of words
• enallage: Substitution of forms that are grammatically different, but have the same meaning
• enjambment: Breaking of a syntactic unit (a phrase, clause, or sentence) by the end of a line or between two verses
• enthymeme: Informal method of presenting a syllogism
• epanalepsis: Repetition of the initial word or words of a clause or sentence at the end of the clause or sentence
• epistrophe: (also known as antistrophe) Repetition of the same word or group of words at the end of successive clauses. The counterpart of anaphora
• euphony: Opposite of cacophony - i.e. pleasant sounding
• hendiadys: Use of two nouns to express an idea when the normal structure would be a noun and a modifier
• hendiatris: Use of three nouns to express one idea
• homeoptoton: in a flexive language the use the first and last words of a sentence in the same forms
• homographs: Words that are identical in spelling but different in origin and meaning
• homonyms: Words that are identical with each other in pronunciation and spelling, but differing in origin and meaning
• homophones:Words that are identical with each other in pronunciation but differing in origin and meaning
• hypallage: Changing the order of words so that they are associated with words normally associated with others
• hyperbaton: Unusual or inverted word order
• hyperbole: Exaggeration of a statement
• hysteron proteron: The inversion of the usual temporal or causal order between two elements
• isocolon: Use of parallel structures of the same length in successive clauses
• internal rhyme: Using two or more rhyming words in the same sentence
• kenning: A metonymic compound where the terms together form a sort of anecdote
• merism: Referring to a whole by enumerating some of its parts
• non sequitur: Statement that bears no relationship to the context preceding
• onomatopoeia: Word that imitates a real sound (e.g. tick-tock or boom)
• paradiastole: Repetition of the disjunctive pair "neither" and "nor"
• parallelism: The use of similar structures in two or more clauses
• paraprosdokian: Unexpected ending or truncation of a clause
• parenthesis: Insertion of a clause or sentence in a place where it interrupts the natural flow of the sentence
• paroemion: Resolute alliteration in which every word in a sentence or phrase begins with the same letter
• parrhesia: Speaking openly or boldly, or apologizing for doing so (declaring to do so)
• perissologia: The fault of wordiness
• pleonasm: Use of superfluous or redundant words
• polyptoton: Repetition of words derived from the same root
• polysyndeton: Repetition of conjunctions
• pun: When a word or phrase is used in two(or more) different senses
• repetition: Repeated usage of word(s)/group of words in the same sentence to create a poetic/rhythmic effect
• sibilance: Repetition of letter 's', it is a form of alliteration
• sine dicendo: A statement that is so obvious it need not be stated, and if stated, it seems almost pointless (e.g. 'It's always in the last place you look.')
• spoonerism: Interchanging of (usually initial) letters of words with amusing effect
• superlative: Declaring something the best within its class i.e. the ugliest, the most precious
• symploce: Simultaneous use of anaphora and epistrophe: the repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning and the end of successive clauses
• synchysis: Interlocked word order
• synesis: Agreement of words according to the sense, and not the grammatical form
• synecdoche:Part for whole and whole for part
• synizesis: Pronunciation of two juxtaposed vowels or diphthongs as a single sound
• synonymia: Use of two or more synonyms in the same clause or sentence
• tautology: Redundancy due to superfluous qualification; saying the same thing twice
• tmesis: Division of the elements of a compound word
• zeugma: The using of one verb for two actions

TropesMain article: Trope (linguistics)

• allegory: Extended metaphor in which a story is told to illustrate an important attribute of the subject
• alliteration: Repetition of the first consonant sound in a phrase.
• allusion: Indirect reference to another work of literature or art
• anacoenosis: Posing a question to an audience, often with the implication that it shares a common interest with the speaker
• antanaclasis: A form of pun in which a word is repeated in two different senses
• anthimeria: Substitution of one part of speech for another, often turning a noun into a verb
• anthropomorphism: Ascribing human characteristics to something that is not human, such as an animal or a god (see zoomorphism)
• antimetabole: Repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed grammatical order
• antiphrasis: Word or words used contradictory to their usual meaning, often with irony
• antonomasia: Substitution of a phrase for a proper name or vice versa
• aphorism: Tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion, an adage
• apophasis: Invoking an idea by denying its invocation
• apostrophe: Addressing a thing, an abstraction or a person not present
• archaism: Use of an obsolete, archaic, word (a word used in olden language, e.g. Shakespeare's language)
• auxesis: Form of hyperbole, in which a more important sounding word is used in place of a more descriptive term
• bathos: Pompous speech with a ludicrously mundane worded anti-climax
• catachresis: Mixed metaphor (sometimes used by design and sometimes a rhetorical fault)
• circumlocution: "Talking around" a topic by substituting or adding words, as in euphemism or periphrasis
• commiseration: Evoking pity in the audience
• correctio: Linguistic device used for correcting one's mistakes, a form of which is epanorthosis
• denominatio: Another word for metonymy
• double negative: Grammar construction that can be used as an expression and it is the repetition of negative words
• dysphemism: Substitution of a harsher, more offensive, or more disagreeable term for another. Opposite of euphemism
• epanorthosis: Immediate and emphatic self-correction, often following a slip of the tongue
• enumeratio: A form of amplification in which a subject is divided, detailing parts, causes, effects, or consequences to make a point more forcibly
• epanodos: Repetition in a sentence with a reversal of words. Example: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath
• erotema: Synonym for rhetorical question
• euphemism: Substitution of a less offensive or more agreeable term for another
• exclamation: An emphatic parenthetic addition that is complete in itself, exclamation differs from interjection in that it usually involves an emotional response.
• hermeneia: Repetition for the purpose of interpreting what has already been said
• humour: Provoking laughter and providing amusement
• hyperbaton: Words that naturally belong together are separated from each other for emphasis or effect
• hyperbole: Use of exaggerated terms for emphasis
• hypocatastasis: An implication or declaration of resemblance that does not directly name both terms
• hypophora: Answering one's own rhetorical question at length
• hysteron proteron: Reversal of anticipated order of events; a form of hyperbaton
• innuendo: Having a hidden meaning in a sentence that makes sense whether it is detected or not
• inversion: A reversal of normal word order, especially the placement of a verb ahead of the subject (subject-verb inversion).
• invocation: Apostrophe to a god or muse
• irony: Use of word in a way that conveys a meaning opposite to its usual meaning
• kataphora: Repetition of a cohesive device at the end
• litotes: Emphasizing the magnitude of a statement by denying its opposite
• malapropism: Using a word through confusion with a word that sounds similar
• meiosis: Use of understatement, usually to diminish the importance of something
• merism: Statement of opposites to indicate reality
• metalepsis: Referring to something through reference to another thing to which it is remotely related
• metaphor: Stating one entity is another for the purpose of comparing them in quality
• metonymy: Substitution of an associated word to suggest what is really meant
• neologism: The use of a word or term that has recently been created, or has been in use for a short time. Opposite of archaism
• onomatopoeia: Words that sound like their meaning
• oxymoron: Using two terms together, that normally contradict each other
• parable: Extended metaphor told as an anecdote to illustrate or teach a moral lesson
• paradox: Use of apparently contradictory ideas to point out some underlying truth
• paradiastole: Extenuating a vice in order to flatter or soothe
• paraprosdokian: Phrase in which the latter part causes a rethinking or reframing of the beginning
• parallel irony: An ironic juxtaposition of sentences or situations (informal)
• paralipsis: Drawing attention to something while pretending to pass it over
• parody: Humouristic imitation
• paronomasia: A form of pun, in which words similar in sound but with different meanings are used
• pathetic fallacy: Using a word that refers to a human action on something non-human
• periphrasis: Using several words instead of few
• personification/prosopopoeia/anthropomorphism: Attributing or applying human qualities to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena
• praeteritio: Another word for paralipsis
• procatalepsis: Refuting anticipated objections as part of the main argument
• prolepsis: Another word for procatalepsis
• proslepsis: Extreme form of paralipsis in which the speaker provides great detail while feigning to pass over a topic
• proverb: Succinct or pithy expression of what is commonly observed and believed to be true
• pun: Play on words that will have two meanings
• rhetorical question: Asking a question as a way of asserting something. Asking a question which already has the answer hidden in it. Or asking a question not for the sake of getting an answer but for asserting something (or as in a poem for creating a poetic effect)
• satire: Humoristic criticism of society
• sensory detail Imagery: sight, sound, taste, touch, smell
• simile: Comparison between two things using like or as
• snowclone: Quoted or misquoted cliché or phrasal template
• superlative: Saying that something is the best of something or has the most of some quality, e.g. the ugliest, the most precious etc.
• syllepsis: Form of pun, in which a single word is used to modify two other words, with which it normally would have differing meanings
• syncatabasis (condescension, accommodation): adaptation of style to the level of the audience
• synecdoche: Form of metonymy, in which a part stands for the whole
• Synesthesia: Description of one kind of sense impression by using words that normally describe another.
• tautology: Needless repetition of the same sense in different words Example: The children gathered in a round circle
• transferred epithet: Placing of an adjective with what appears to be the incorrect noun
• truism: a self-evident statement
• tricolon diminuens: Combination of three elements, each decreasing in size
• tricolon crescens: Combination of three elements, each increasing in size
• zeugma: A figure of speech related to syllepsis, but different in that the word used as a modifier is not compatible with one of the two words it modifies
• zoomorphism: Applying animal characteristics to humans or gods