figure+of+speech

  • 11figure of speech — figures of speech N COUNT A figure of speech is an expression or word that is used with a metaphorical rather than a literal meaning. Of course I m not. It was just a figure of speech …

    English dictionary

  • 12figure of speech — UK / US noun [countable] Word forms figure of speech : singular figure of speech plural figures of speech an expression in which the words are used figuratively, not in their normal literal meaning …

    English dictionary

  • 13figure of speech — noun (C) a word or expression that is used in a different way from the normal one, to give you a picture in your mind: When I said it was a battle to the death it was just a figure of speech …

    Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • 14figure of speech — Synonyms and related words: adornment, alliteration, allusion, anacoluthon, anadiplosis, analogy, anaphora, anastrophe, antiphrasis, antithesis, antonomasia, apophasis, aporia, aposiopesis, apostrophe, beauties, catachresis, chiasmus,… …

    Moby Thesaurus

  • 15figure of speech — Rhet. any expressive use of language, as a metaphor, simile, personification, or antithesis, in which words are used in other than their literal sense, or in other than their ordinary locutions, in order to suggest a picture or image or for other …

    Universalium

  • 16figure of speech — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) n. expression, device (see figurative). II (Roget s IV) n. Figures of speech include: image, comParison, metaphor, simile, alliteration, onomatopoeia, metonymy, synecdoche, trope, epic simile, Homeric… …

    English dictionary for students

  • 17figure of speech — fig′ure of speech′ n. rht an expression in which words are used in a nonliteral sense, as in metaphor, or in an unusual construction, as in antithesis, or for their sounds, as in onomatopoeia, to suggest vivid images or to heighten effect •… …

    From formal English to slang

  • 18figure of speech — Date: 1751 a form of expression (as a simile or metaphor) used to convey meaning or heighten effect often by comparing or identifying one thing with another that has a meaning or connotation familiar to the reader or listener …

    New Collegiate Dictionary

  • 19figure of speech — noun A word or phrase that departs from straightforward, literal language. Syn: turn of phrase See Also: idiom …

    Wiktionary

  • 20figure of speech — expression using words in a nonliteral or unusual sense …

    English contemporary dictionary