A way of saying something other than literal meaning of the words.

More commonly known as figure of speech An expression that uses language in a nonliteral way, such as a metaphor or synecdoche, or in a structured or unusual way, such as anaphora or chiasmus, or that employs sounds, such as alliteration or assonance, to achieve a rhetorical effect.

 It also termed as a rhetoric or a locution It departs from straightforward, literal meaning Figurative speech is often used and crafted for emphasis, freshness or to explain further on a certain subject(clarity).

 There are many different types of FIGURATIVE language. A figurative statement will use various figures of speech to enhance its meaning. A LITERAL statement is a sentence in which every word has its usual and exact meaning.

 Alliteration Hyperbole Metaphor Personification Simile

 Alliteration is the repetition of sounds, consonants, or vowels usually at the beginning of words in a sentence.

Bob broke Brad's bat Walter washed Winnie's window. Stan the man ran away. Charles challenged Chassidy to a cha cha contest.

 A hyperbole is an exaggeration not intended to deceive the reader but as an expression of humour. Deliberate overstatement not intended to be taken literally, it is used as a means of emphasizing the truth of a statement.

 I told you a million times to... I have such a bad headache I think my head is going to explode. His arms dangled a mile out of his shirt.

 A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things without using "like", "as" or "as if". Generally, it uses words such as: is, seems, was. A figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two things essentially unalike. The substitution of a word for a word whose meaning is close to the original word.

 The woman was a tigress in defense of her children. His laughter was thunder to the child. The factory smoke was a dirty puff of cotton. The wind was a hurt animal when it howled. Screaming headlines It stirred our emotions Life is a lark.

 Personification is giving human characteristics to non-human (inanimate) objects. Where a person represents some quality, thing or idea.

 The trees whispered my names. (the trees are compared to things a person does -- whisper) The ocean invited me closer. (people invite) The angry ocean attacked the ships. The sleeping willows bowed down their heads. The campfires smoke danced around us. A wind in the forest snag as we walked.

 A simile is a comparison between two unlike things using the words "like", "as if", or "as A figure of speech in which a comparison is expressed by the specific use of a word or phrase such as: like, as, than, seems

When angry, Lucy is like a cyclone. His laughter was as loud as thunder. The wind howled as if it were a hurt animal. The factory smoke was like a dirty puff of cotton.

 The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs.

 "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills" (Winston S. Churchill)

ANOTHER TYPES OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Anaphora Repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses. Antithesis The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases. Apostrophe Breaking off discourse to address some absent person or thing, some abstract quality, an inanimate object, or a nonexistent character. Assonance Identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words. Chiasmus A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed.

 Euphemism The substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit. Irony The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. A statement or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea. Litotes A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite. Metonymy A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated; also, the rhetorical strategy of describing something indirectly by referring to things around it.

Onomatopoeia The formation or use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. Oxymoron A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side. Paradox A statement that appears to contradict itself.

Pun A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.
Synechdoche A figure of speech is which a part is used to represent the whole, the whole for a part, the specific for the general, the general for the specific, or the material for the thing made from it.

Understatement A figure of speech in which a writer or a speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is.