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Synchysis: words that are intentionally scattered to create perplexment. Synecdoche: referring to a part by its whole or vice versa. 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: insertions of content within a compound word.
Word or phrase Original / literal use Metonymic use 10 Downing Street ("Number 10") The official residence of the prime minister of the United Kingdom [n 2] The prime minister and his/her staff, [29] often meaning more broadly the UK Government: Brussels: The capital of Belgium The government of the European Union [30] Buckingham Palace or the ...
A list of metaphors in the English language organised alphabetically by type. A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels".
The etymology of a word may uncover a metaphorical usage which has since become obscured with persistent use - such as for example the English word "window", etymologically equivalent to "wind eye". [7] The word metaphor itself is a metaphor, coming from a Greek term
An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below).
Literal and figurative language is a distinction that exists in all natural languages; it is studied within certain areas of language analysis, in particular stylistics, rhetoric, and semantics. Literal language is the usage of words exactly according to their direct, straightforward, or conventionally accepted meanings: their denotation.
In linguistics, the conduit metaphor is a dominant class of figurative expressions used when discussing communication itself (metalanguage).It operates whenever people speak or write as if they "insert" their mental contents (feelings, meanings, thoughts, concepts, etc.) into "containers" (words, phrases, sentences, etc.) whose contents are then "extracted" by listeners and readers.
"Perceived as such then metonymy will be a figure of speech in which there is a process of abstracting a relation of proximity between two words to the extent that one will be used in place of another." [32] Cicero viewed metonymy as more of a stylish rhetorical method and described it as being based on words, but motivated by style. [citation ...