rhetoric - study of the technique and rules for using language effectively (especially in public speaking)

device - something in an artistic work designed to achieve a particular effect

rhetoric - using language effectively to please or persuade

anacoluthia, anacoluthon - an abrupt change within a sentence from one syntactic structure to another

repetition - the repeated use of the same word or word pattern as a rhetorical device

anastrophe, inversion - the reversal of the normal order of words

antiphrasis - the use of a word in a sense opposite to its normal sense (especially in irony)

antithesis - the juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas to give a feeling of balance

antinomasia - substitution of a title for a name

apophasis - mentioning something by saying it will not be mentioned

aposiopesis - breaking off in the middle of a sentence (as by writers of realistic conversations)

apostrophe - address to an absent or imaginary person

catachresis - strained or paradoxical use of words either in error (as `blatant' to mean `flagrant') or deliberately (as in a mixed metaphor: `blind mouths')

chiasmus - inversion in the second of two parallel phrases

climax - arrangement of clauses in ascending order of forcefulness

conversion - interchange of subject and predicate of a proposition

ecphonesis, exclamation - an exclamatory rhetorical device; "O tempore! O mores"

emphasis - special and significant stress by means of position or repetition e.g.

enallage - a substitution of part of speech or gender or number or tense etc. (e.g., editorial `we' for `I')

epanorthosis - immediate rephrasing for intensification or justification; "Seems, madam! Nay, it is"

epiplexis - a rhetorical device in which the speaker reproaches the audience in order to incite or convince them

hendiadys - use of two conjoined nouns instead of a noun and modifier

hypallage - reversal of the syntactic relation of two words (as in `her beauty's face')

hyperbaton - reversal of normal word order (as in `cheese I love')

hypozeugma - use of a series of subjects with a single predicate

hypozeuxis - use of a series of parallel clauses (as in `I came, I saw, I conquered')

hysteron proteron - reversal of normal order of two words or sentences etc. (as in `bred and born')

litotes, meiosis - understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary); "saying `I was not a little upset' when you mean `I was very upset' is an example of litotes"

onomatopoeia - using words that imitate the sound they denote

paraleipsis, paralepsis, paralipsis, preterition - suggesting by deliberately concise treatment that much of significance is omitted

paregmenon - juxtaposing words having a common derivation (as in `sense and sensibility')

polysyndeton - using several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted (as in `he ran and jumped and laughed for joy')

prolepsis - anticipating and answering objections in advance

wellerism - a comparison comprising a well-known quotation followed by a facetious sequel

figure of speech, trope, image, figure - language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense