View source for Forms of Figurative Language

Synopsis: Written below is a brief description of figurative language containing a number of examples on how such writing is used in numerous literature works.


What is figurative language?

Figurative language is an expression that means something else than it literally says. For instance, I tell you "It is raining cats and dogs," I technically am not trying to communicate the fact that domestic animals are flying down from the sky; I am showing the weather is very rainy and stormy.

Written below is a brief description of the most frequented forms of figurative language:

Simile- a phrase comparing two things using "like" or "as"

Ex: Sally was so tall, she seemed like a tree to many of the people she towered over.

Metaphor- the comparison of two different objects without using "like" or "as"

Ex: She was a sunflower: she loved to bask in her own success, and failed to recognize the fact that soon, nighttime would arrive.

Alliteration- the identical occurence of a letter or sound at the start of a set of words in a set

Ex: Sally sells seashells.

Personification- a human quality given to a non-human item[animal, food, etc.]

Ex: The tree shrieked in agony when Billy accidently barged straight, head-first into the tree.

Onomatopoeia- a sound written out as a work

Ex: "Ouch", "Woof", "Bark", "Oink", "Honk", etc.

Idiom- a saying that often has a different communication than what it literally mean

Ex[1]-"It is raining cats and dogs."
Ex[2]-"The homework was a piece of cake."

Hyperbole- a greatly exaggerated statement beyond the belief to make a point

Ex: I am so hungry, I could devour a horse.