Meanings and representations

• Accumulation: a listing of words embodying similar qualities either physical or abstract with the intent of emphasising to the reader the quality that they hold in common
• Adynaton: a form of hyperbole which involves magnification of an event by reference to the impossible or unattainable
• Allegory: a story with one surface or literal meaning co-existing with metaphorical interpretations, consistent throughout the story
• Alliteration: the repetition of a single consonant sound at either the beginning of words or on stressed syllables
• Allusion: an implicit reference to another work of literature or art, to a person, to an event, or to a modern meme
• Amblysia: a noticeable modification of language to prepare for the announcement of something tragic, alarming, or shocking
• Amphiboly: an ambiguity in the meaning of a sentence caused by grammatical looseness to produce a double meaning
• Anachronism: the misplacement of an action, character, phrase, or setting in time, sometimes used deliberately to underline a universal verisimilitude and timelessness
• Anacoluthon: a sentence that is begun in one way, but then ended in a different way, usually with a hyphen linking two disparate clauses
• Anadiplosis: the repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the next clause
• Analogue: a word or thing that is similar or parallel to another, with most salient features alike
• Anaphora: the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive sentences or clauses
• Anastrophe: an inversion of the normal word order, where elements of a sentence are completely back to front from convention
• Anecdote: a brief account or story about an individual or an incident, usually used with the rhetorical intent of reinforcing a point
• Anesis: a rhetorical device in which a concluding sentence, clause, or phrase is used to deliberately diminish or discredit the previous statements
• Antanaclasis: the usage of a word multiple times, where each usage uses a different denotation of the word
• Anthropomorphism: the attribution of human characteristics to anything non-human, usually distinct from personification as it is more a structural feature rather than metaphorical
• Anthimeria: the substitution of one part of speech for another in the sense of making the prose more decorative, as in adjectives as nouns or nouns as verbs
• Antipophora: a character asks a question of themselves, and then answers by themselves
• Antimetabole: repetition of words in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order
• Antiphrasis: the use of a word in the opposite sense to its proper denotation
• Antithesis: a set of contrasting ideas sharpened by the use of opposite or noticeably different meanings
• Antonomasia: the substitution of a proper noun for an epithet, title, or occupation associated with that object or person
• Aphorism: a terse statement of a truth or dogma; a pithy generalisation that may or may not be witty, aiming to expose and give insight into a universal truth
• Aposiopesis: the abrupt breaking off of speech with the sentence being left unfinished, not continued like anacoluthon
• Apostrophe: a figure of speech where a thing, place, abstract quality, idea, or dead/absent person is addressed as if present and capable of understanding
• Archaism: a word, phrase, or idiom that is old or obsolete at its time of usage
• Assonance: repetition of similar vowel sounds close together to achieve a form of euphony
• Asyndeton: omission of conjunctions, articles, and often pronouns for the sake of speed and economy
• Aside: a few words or a short passage spoken in an undertone or to the audience, presumed inaudible to other characters on stage
• Bathos: a sensation achieved when the writer strives at the sublime and overreaches himself, toppling into the absurd, either deliberately or accidentally
• Black comedy: a form of humor using the shocking, horrific, or macabre to create comedy, often with undertones of disillusionment and cynicism
• Blank verse: unrhymed five-stress lines in iambic pentameter
• Blazon: verses of a work dwelling on and describing in detail the various parts of a woman’s body
• Bombast: the use of inflated or extravagant language
• Burlesque: a derisive imitation or exaggerated 'sending up' of a literary or musical work, usually stronger and broader in tone and style than parody
• Cacophony: effect achieved through the use of harsh or contrasting sounds that sound mildly unpleasant
• Caesura: a break or pause in a line of poetry dictated by the natural rhythm of the language or enforced by punctuation
• Catachresis is the misapplication of a word or metaphor, particularly when used in a mixed metaphor
• Catalexis is the omission of the last syllable or syllables in a regular metrical line