Search results
Results from the 24/7 Vacations Content Network
English understatement. Understatement is an aspect of traditional English culture. [1] It has been exploited to humorous effect, but it is also characterised as part of the English cultural attitude to life.
Look up understatement in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Understatement is an expression of lesser strength than what the speaker or writer actually means or than what is normally expected. It is the opposite of embellishment or exaggeration, and is used for emphasis, irony, hedging, or humor. A particular form of understatement using ...
Litotes. In rhetoric, litotes ( / laɪˈtoʊtiːz, ˈlaɪtətiːz /, US: / ˈlɪtətiːz / ), [ 1] also known classically as antenantiosis or moderatour, is a figure of speech and form of irony in which understatement is used to emphasize a point by stating a negative to further affirm a positive, often incorporating double negatives for effect ...
Meiosis (figure of speech) In rhetoric, meiosis is a euphemistic figure of speech that intentionally understates something or implies that it is lesser in significance or size than it really is. Meiosis is the opposite of auxesis, and is often compared to litotes. [1] [2] [3] The term is derived from the Greek μειόω ("to make smaller", "to ...
A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from straightforward language use or literal meaning to produce a rhetorical or intensified effect (emotionally, aesthetically, intellectually, etc.). [ 1][ 2] In the distinction between literal and figurative language, figures of speech constitute the latter.
The easiest stylistic device to identify is a simile, signaled by the use of the words "like" or "as". A simile is a comparison used to attract the reader's attention and describe something in descriptive terms. Example: "From up here on the fourteenth floor, my brother Charley looks like an insect scurrying among other insects."
Erotema – rhetorical question; a question is asked to which an answer is not expected. [ 1] Ethos – a rhetorical appeal to an audience based on the speaker/writer's credibility. Ethopoeia – the act of putting oneself into the character of another to convey that person's feelings and thoughts more vividly.
t. e. A literary trope is the use of figurative language, via word, phrase or an image, for artistic effect such as using a figure of speech. [ 1] Keith and Lundburg describe a trope as "a substitution of a word or phrase by a less literal word or phrase". [ 2] The word trope has also undergone a semantic change and now also describes commonly ...