Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Euphemism comes from the Greek word euphemia (εὐφημία) which refers to the use of 'words of good omen'; it is a compound of eû (εὖ), meaning 'good, well', and phḗmē (φήμη), meaning 'prophetic speech; rumour, talk'. [3] Eupheme is a reference to the female Greek spirit of words of praise and positivity, etc.
Also apophthegm. A terse, pithy saying, akin to a proverb, maxim, or aphorism. aposiopesis A rhetorical device in which speech is broken off abruptly and the sentence is left unfinished. apostrophe A figure of speech in which a speaker breaks off from addressing the audience (e.g., in a play) and directs speech to a third party such as an opposing litigant or some other individual, sometimes ...
Doublespeak may take the form of euphemisms (e.g., "downsizing" for layoffs and "servicing the target" for bombing), [1] in which case it is primarily meant to make the truth sound more palatable. It may also refer to intentional ambiguity in language or to actual inversions of meaning. In such cases, doublespeak disguises the nature of the truth.
Allegory: an extended metaphor in which the characters, places, and objects in a narrative carry figurative meaning. Often, the meaning of an allegory is religious, moral, or historical in nature. Example: "The Faerie Queene" by Edmund Spenser. [1] Periphrasis: the usage of multiple separate words to carry the meaning of prefixes, suffixes or ...
Euphemism – an innocuous, inoffensive or circumlocutory term or phrase for something unpleasant or obscene—e.g., in advertising for female hygiene products any liquid shown is never red, it's usually blue. Exemplum – the citation of an example, either truthful or fictitious. Exordium – the introductory portion of an oration.
Poetic diction is the term used to refer to the linguistic style, the vocabulary, and the metaphors used in the writing of poetry.In the Western tradition, all these elements were thought of as properly different in poetry and prose up to the time of the Romantic revolution, when William Wordsworth challenged the distinction in his Romantic manifesto, the Preface to the second (1800) edition ...
The process of pejoration leads to words that were once considered euphemisms to now be considered dysphemisms. In American culture, words like "colored" were once considered euphemisms, [12] but have since been replaced by terms like "Black" and "African American". Sometimes slight modifications of dysphemisms can make them acceptable: while ...
Lodgings to Let, an 1814 engraving featuring a double entendre. He: "My sweet honey, I hope you are to be let with the Lodgins!" She: "No, sir, I am to be let alone".. A double entendre [note 1] (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that ...