Word images that cannot be interpreted literally; types of figurative language include similes ("cute as a button"), metaphors ("he was a lion in battle"), idioms ("start from scratch"), personification ("the puppy was indignant"), and hyperbole ("I'm so hungry I could eat a horse").
3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 10 Language enriched by word images and figures of speech.
Words that mean more than their literal meaning. For example, “It's raining cats and dogs.” Literally, it is not raining cats and dogs.
language that it not meant to be taken literally. Figurative language includes metaphors, similes, and personification.
Figurative language is writing or speech that's used to create vivid impressions by setting up comparisons between dissimilar things. Some frequently used figures of speech are metaphors, similes, and personification.
Writing that uses figures of speech (as opposed to literal language or that which is actual or specifically denoted) such as metaphor, simile, and irony. Figurative language uses words to mean something other than their literal meaning. "The black bat night has flown" is figurative, with the metaphor comparing night and a bat. "Night is over" says the same thing without figurative language. No real bat is or has been on the scene, but night is like a bat because it is dark.
Figurative language gives a meaning that goes beyond the exact meaning of the words used in order to achieve a special effect. In "screaming headlines," the word "screaming" is figurative in use.
language which expresses more than a literal meaning (e.g., metaphor, simile)
Language that communicates ideas beyond the ordinary or literal meaning of the words. See Simile, Metaphor, Personification, Hyperbole
Use of figures of speech, symbolic language.
Language that includes the use of rich language that creates a word picture such as similes, metaphors, alliterations, idioms, onomatopoeias, personifications, and hyperboles.
The non-literal use of language and the tendency of language to have more than one meaning. A figure of speech is a way of recognizing this tendency. Figures of speech (like "I'm fed up to here") might need to be explained to a non-native speaker. The phrase "All hands on deck" involves figurative language, since "hands" refer to men who can use their hands to help guide the ship. When one says that Saint George is a "figure" for Christ, it means that he has Christ-like qualities. See also metaphor, simile, symbolism , allegory, kenning.
language not meant to be taken literally; also known as figures of speech (e.g., metaphor, personification, hyperbole, and simile)
language that is used to imply or suggest a literal meaning, often by way of comparison. sometimes called figures of speech.
language that is used imaginatively rather than literally. Figurative language often involves the use of figures of speech.
is not literal; it is characterized by figures of speech such as metaphor and personification.
writing or speech not meant to be interpreted literally; it is language used to create vivid word pictures, to make writing emotionally intense and concentrated, and to state ideas in new and unusual ways
Language that is not intended to be interpreted in a literal sense. Figurative language always makes use of a comparison between different things. By appealing to the imagination, figurative language provides new ways of looking at the world.
Imaginative language that compares one thing to another in ways that are not necessarily logical but that are nevertheless striking, original, and "true." Examples of figurative language are metaphor, simile, and allusion.
Language enriched by word meanings and figures of speech ( i.e., similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole)
Use of a metaphor or simile to create a particular impression or mood Back to the top
Is a departure from what users of the language apprehend as the standard meaning of words, or the standard order of words, in order to achieve some special meaning or effect. Figurative language is also refered to as language that makes use of certain figures of speech or tropes.
is writing or speaking that purposefully departs from the literal meanings of words to achieve a particularly vivid, expressive, and/or imaginative image. In Steven Heighton's description of the park entrance at Vimy Ridge, for example, he uses figurative language. "In the blue-green stained-glass light of the forest, the near-silence was eerie, solemn, as in the cathedral at Arras." Some principal figures of speech include metaphor, simile, hyperbole, allusion, and personification. Flashback
is a type of language that varies from the norms of literal language, in which words mean exactly what they say. Also known as the "ornaments of language," figurative language does not mean exactly what it says, but instead forces the reader to make an imaginative leap in order to comprehend an author's point. It usually involves a comparison between two things that may not, at first, seem to relate to one another. Example: Macbeth refers to life as "a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage."
language that expresses ideas, beyond the literal or the ordinary; words that do not mean exactly what they say, yet trying to make a strong point. The most common examples of figurative language include: simile, metaphor, personification, and hyperbole.
Language where the literal meaning of words or phrases is disregarded in order to show an imaginative relationship between diverse things. Figurative language makes poetry more vivid. Such figures of speech include: allegory, apostrophe, hyperbole, irony, litotes, metaphor, metonymy, personification, simile and synecdoche.
A technique in writing in which the author temporarily interrupts the order, construction, or meaning of the writing for a particular effect. This interruption takes the form of one or more figures of speech such as hyperbole, irony, or simile. Figurative language is the opposite of literal language, in which every word is truthful, accurate, and free of exaggeration or embellishment. Examples of figurative language are tropes such as Metaphor and rhetorical figures such as apostrophe.