100 Rhetorical Devices Every Educated Adult Should Know

No.	Item	Definition
1.	Accumulation	Gathering multiple details or arguments for impact.
2.	Allegory	Using a narrative to express underlying meanings.
3.	Alliteration	Repeating initial consonant sounds in nearby words.
4.	Allusion	Indirectly referencing a familiar person, event, or work.
5.	Amplification	Expanding an idea to increase its impact.
6.	Anacoluthon	Abruptly changing grammatical structure within a sentence.
7.	Anadiplosis	Beginning a clause with the preceding clause’s ending.
8.	Analogy	Explaining something through a comparison.
9.	Anaphora	Repeating words at successive clause beginnings.
10.	Antanaclasis	Repeating a word with a changed meaning.
11.	Antanagoge	Counterbalancing a criticism with a favorable point.
12.	Anthimeria	Using a word as another part of speech.
13.	Anticlimax	Moving from significant ideas to lesser ones.
14.	Antimetabole	Repeating words in reverse order.
15.	Antithesis	Placing contrasting ideas in balanced structures.
16.	Antonomasia	Substituting a descriptive title for a name.
17.	Apophasis	Mentioning something while claiming not to discuss it.
18.	Aporia	Expressing doubt, often for strategic effect.
19.	Aposiopesis	Breaking off speech before completing a thought.
20.	Apostrophe	Addressing someone absent or something nonhuman.
21.	Assonance	Repeating vowel sounds in nearby words.
22.	Asyndeton	Omitting conjunctions between coordinated words or clauses.
23.	Bdelygmia	Expressing intense disgust through a forceful denunciation.
24.	Catachresis	Using a deliberately strained or unconventional metaphor.
25.	Cataplexis	Threatening punishment or disaster to influence an audience.
26.	Chiasmus	Reversing grammatical structures in successive phrases.
27.	Climax	Arranging ideas in increasing importance.
28.	Commoratio	Dwelling on a point through repeated reformulation.
29.	Concessio	Granting a point to strengthen one’s argument.
30.	Conduplicatio	Repeating a key word across successive phrases.
31.	Consonance	Repeating consonant sounds within or between words.
32.	Diacope	Repeating words with intervening words between them.
33.	Diasyrmus	Discrediting an opposing argument through ridicule.
34.	Dirimens copulatio	Adding a complementary point to prevent misunderstanding.
35.	Distinctio	Clarifying a word’s specific intended meaning.
36.	Distributio	Assigning distinct roles or qualities to listed subjects.
37.	Double entendre	Using wording with two meanings, often suggestive.
38.	Dysphemism	Substituting harsh language for neutral expressions.
39.	Ellipsis	Omitting words that context makes understood.
40.	Enallage	Deliberately substituting an unexpected grammatical form.
41.	Enthymeme	Making an argument with an unstated premise.
42.	Enumeration	Listing details individually for emphasis.
43.	Epanalepsis	Ending a clause by repeating its opening.
44.	Epanorthosis	Correcting earlier wording to strengthen its effect.
45.	Epimone	Insistently repeating a phrase or question.
46.	Epistrophe	Repeating words at successive clause endings.
47.	Epithet	Adding a descriptive label highlighting a characteristic.
48.	Epizeuxis	Repeating a word immediately for emphasis.
49.	Euphemism	Substituting mild language for something unpleasant.
50.	Exemplum	Using an illustrative story to support an argument.
51.	Hendiadys	Expressing one idea through two coordinated nouns.
52.	Homoioptoton	Using matching grammatical endings in nearby words.
53.	Homoioteleuton	Using similar sounds at successive phrase endings.
54.	Hyperbaton	Departing from normal word order for emphasis.
55.	Hyperbole	Exaggerating for emphasis or effect.
56.	Hypophora	Asking a question and then answering it.
57.	Hypozeuxis	Giving each parallel clause its own verb.
58.	Hysteron proteron	Reversing the logical or chronological order.
59.	Innuendo	Indirectly suggesting something critical or improper.
60.	Irony	Expressing meaning that contrasts with apparent meaning.
61.	Isocolon	Using parallel structures of approximately equal length.
62.	Litotes	Affirming something by denying its opposite.
63.	Merism	Naming contrasting parts to express a whole.
64.	Mesodiplosis	Repeating words in the middle of successive clauses.
65.	Metabasis	Summarizing earlier points before introducing new ones.
66.	Metalepsis	Making a figurative reference through intermediate associations.
67.	Metaphor	Describing one thing as another.
68.	Metonymy	Substituting something closely associated for its referent.
69.	Onomatopoeia	Using words that imitate sounds.
70.	Oxymoron	Combining apparently contradictory words.
71.	Paradiastole	Recasting a fault as a virtue.
72.	Paradox	Presenting an apparent contradiction that reveals truth.
73.	Parallelism	Using matching grammatical structures.
74.	Parenthesis	Inserting an aside within a sentence.
75.	Periphrasis	Using a roundabout expression instead of direct wording.
76.	Personification	Giving human qualities to nonhuman things.
77.	Pleonasm	Adding unnecessary words for emphasis.
78.	Polyptoton	Repeating a word in different grammatical forms.
79.	Polysyndeton	Repeating conjunctions more often than necessary.
80.	Procatalepsis	Anticipating and answering an objection.
81.	Prolepsis	Representing a future event as already accomplished.
82.	Pun	Playing on multiple meanings or similar sounds.
83.	Reductio ad absurdum	Refuting an argument by exposing absurd consequences.
84.	Repetition	Repeating language for emphasis or effect.
85.	Rhetorical question	Asking a question without expecting an answer.
86.	Sarcasm	Using cutting irony to mock or criticize.
87.	Scesis onomaton	Emphasizing through successive noun phrases without main verbs.
88.	Sententia	Supporting a point with a general moral saying.
89.	Simile	Comparing things using like or as.
90.	Symploce	Repeating both beginnings and endings across clauses.
91.	Syncrisis	Comparing opposing people or things systematically.
92.	Synecdoche	Using a part to represent the whole.
93.	Synesthesia	Describing one sense through another.
94.	Synonymia	Repeating an idea through successive synonyms.
95.	Tmesis	Inserting a word inside another word.
96.	Transferred epithet	Applying a modifier to an associated noun.
97.	Tricolon	Arranging three parallel words, phrases, or clauses.
98.	Understatement	Presenting something as less significant than it is.
99.	Zeugma	Making one word govern others in different senses.
100.	Zoomorphism	Describing humans or objects with animal characteristics.