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Definition of Figure of speech
1. Noun. Language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense.
Examples of language type: Cakewalk, Blind Alley, Blockbuster, Megahit, Smash Hit, Sleeper, Bell Ringer, Bull's Eye, Home Run, Mark, Housecleaning, Goldbrick, Lens, Domino Effect, Flip Side, Period, Summer, Dawn, Evening, Rainy Day
Generic synonyms: Rhetorical Device
Specialized synonyms: Conceit, Irony, Exaggeration, Hyperbole, Kenning, Metaphor, Metonymy, Oxymoron, Personification, Prosopopoeia, Simile, Synecdoche, Zeugma
Derivative terms: Tropical
Definition of Figure of speech
1. Noun. (idiomatic) A word or phrase that departs from straightforward, literal language. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Lexicographical Neighbors of Figure Of Speech
Literary usage of Figure of speech
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Elements of Criticism by Henry Home Kames (1870)
"Figure of Speech. 534. IN the section immediately foregoing, a figure of speech
... In this respect, a figure of speech is precisely similar to concordant ..."
2. Southern Literary Messenger (1849)
"... of course, a mere figure of speech ; and from the class of modern authors who
use really nothing to write with but steel and gold, some, no doubt, ..."
3. Crabb's English Synonyms by George Crabb (1917)
"In the moral acceptance loathe is a strong figure of speech to mark the abhorrence
and disgust which the sieht or thought of offensive objects produces. ..."
4. The Theological and Literary Journal (1856)
"... indeed, by a very bold figure of speech the body might be said to be asleep,
even as we might figuratively speak of the seed as asleep. ..."
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