25 Figures of Speech With Definitions, Examples and a Quiz

A figure of speech is a word or phrase used in a non-literal way to create an effect, such as a comparison, emphasis or humour. Common figures include simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, alliteration and irony. Below are 25 grouped by what they do, each with a one-line definition, an example and its effect, plus figurative versus literal language and a quiz.

The short answer

A figure of speech is an expression whose meaning goes beyond the literal sense of its words. "The exam was a mountain" does not claim that the exam is made of rock; it asks you to feel how hard it was. Writers use figures to make an idea vivid, memorable, funny or forceful in fewer words than a plain explanation would need.

Figurative language is the broader term for all such non-literal usage. Literary devices is the widest label and also covers structure, such as foreshadowing and point of view (see the literary devices guide). In school English the three terms often overlap, so check which one your syllabus uses. This guide sorts 25 common figures into four groups by the job they do: comparison, sound, emphasis and contrast.

Figurative vs literal language

Literal language means exactly what the words say. Figurative language means something else, and the reader must infer it.

Three questions help you decide: Could the sentence be true word for word? Does the literal reading sound absurd? Is there a natural comparison or exaggeration the author wants you to see? If the literal reading is absurd, the author almost certainly means it figuratively.

Figurative language is not always better. In instructions, contracts, lab reports and safety notices, literal wording avoids misunderstanding. In stories, speeches, poems, advertising and opinion pieces, figures give life to the text. Choose by purpose and reader.

Group 1: figures of comparison

These figures set one thing beside another to show a likeness.

A simile and a metaphor do the same job in different ways: "life is like a journey" keeps the two things apart, while "life is a journey" merges them. For worked examples see what is a metaphor and simile examples.

A dead metaphor is one used so often that nobody notices it ("the leg of a table", "grasp an idea"). A mixed metaphor combines images that clash ("We will burn that bridge when we come to it"), which usually reads as an error.

Group 2: figures of sound

These figures work on how language sounds, so they are strongest when read aloud.

Slogans use sound heavily because it helps people remember a line. Alliteration and repetition, along with rhyme, are the usual tools, which is why headlines and brand lines lean on them. See also alliteration and onomatopoeia.

Group 3: figures of emphasis

These figures strengthen, exaggerate or redirect attention.

Idioms are listed here because they are figurative, but they work differently from the others: their meaning is learned as a unit, so they are often hard for people learning English. A phrase like "under the weather" cannot be understood by analysing its words.

Group 4: figures of contrast

These figures set opposites or mismatches against each other.

Irony has three common kinds: verbal (saying the opposite), situational (the opposite of what is expected happens) and dramatic (the audience knows something the characters do not). For antithesis in depth see the antithesis guide.

Before and after: using figures well

Plain writing can become flat. Here is a plain sentence and two figurative rewrites.

Plain: The city was busy in the morning. Metaphor: At dawn the city was a hive coming awake. Personification: The city yawned, stretched and clattered into its day.

The metaphor suggests purposeful swarming, while the personification suggests a slower, sleepier waking. The figure you choose steers the reader's feeling. Now an overloaded version:

The city was a hive, a beast, a river of dreams that sang like a thousand birds.

Four unrelated images in one sentence blur each other. Keep to one strong figure per idea.

Where figures of speech appear in school and exams

Figures are tested in secondary-school English literature and language courses, in tests that ask you to identify a device and explain its effect, and in university essays on poetry and rhetoric. A strong answer does three things: names the figure ("This is a simile"), quotes the exact words, and explains the effect ("It makes the cold feel physical and inescapable"). Naming alone earns little. The explanation of effect is what separates a good answer from an average one.

In professional writing, figures help in speeches, pitches, newsletters and marketing copy, but they should be used sparingly. Idioms and clichés in particular can confuse readers who speak English as an additional language, so in international emails and documentation prefer plain wording.

How to analyse a figure of speech in a passage

Follow four steps whenever a question asks you to comment on language.

1. Spot the non-literal phrase. Underline anything that cannot be true word for word.
2. Name the figure. Decide whether it compares (simile, metaphor), plays with sound (alliteration), strengthens (hyperbole) or contrasts (oxymoron).
3. Say what it makes the reader see, hear or feel. "The metaphor of a hive suggests crowded, busy, purposeful movement."
4. Link it to the writer's purpose. Is the writer persuading, criticising, amusing or creating atmosphere?

Take the line "The sun was a coin of copper pressed into the sky." Step one: the sun is not a coin. Step two: metaphor. Step three: the image makes the sun look small, flat, warm in colour and fixed in place. Step four: it sets a still, heavy mood, which suits a scene about a hot afternoon with no movement.

Figures in speeches, advertising and everyday life

Figures are not limited to poems. Political speeches lean on anaphora and antithesis because repeated openings and balanced pairs are easy to follow when heard once. Advertising favours puns, alliteration and hyperbole, since a short line must catch attention and stick. News headlines use metonymy ("Downing Street confirms"), euphemism and wordplay to compress meaning. In daily talk, idioms such as "a piece of cake" and "hit the books" are so common that most speakers stop noticing they are figurative. Learning to notice them makes you a sharper reader and helps you decide, when you write, whether a stock phrase is still earning its place.

Common mistakes

• Calling every comparison a metaphor. If it uses like or as, it is a simile.
• Confusing irony and coincidence. Irony needs a gap between expectation and result, or between words and meaning.
• Confusing hyperbole and metaphor. "I'm starving" is exaggeration; "life is a roller coaster" is a comparison.
• Using clichés. "Cold as ice" and "busy as a bee" no longer surprise anyone. Look for a fresher image from your own subject.
• Mixing metaphors. Finish one image before starting another.
• Explaining the figure inside the sentence. If you must add "metaphorically speaking", the image is probably unclear.

Quiz: name the figure

Identify the figure of speech in each sentence. Answers follow.

1. The classroom was a zoo during the break.
2. The old house groaned as the storm hit it.
3. She is as brave as a lion.
4. I've been waiting here for ages.
5. The bees buzzed and the kettle hissed.
6. Parting is such sweet sorrow.
7. It was a fine day, and Sam, soaked to the skin, said, "Lovely weather."
8. Sally sells seashells by the seashore.
9. Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
10. The White House announced new rules.
11. Can anyone really say they enjoy Monday mornings?
12. The company let 200 people go.

Answers

1. Metaphor: the classroom is not literally a zoo.
2. Personification: a house cannot groan.
3. Simile: uses as ... as.
4. Hyperbole: exaggeration for effect.
5. Onomatopoeia: buzzed and hissed imitate sounds.
6. Oxymoron: sweet and sorrow are contradictory.
7. Verbal irony: the words say the opposite of the situation.
8. Alliteration: repeated s sounds.
9. Antithesis (with a mirrored, chiastic structure): opposing ideas in parallel form.
10. Metonymy: the building stands for the administration.
11. Rhetorical question: asked for effect, not for an answer.
12. Euphemism: a softer phrase for fired or laid off.

A short checklist for using figures

1. Does the figure make the idea clearer or only more decorative?
2. Is it fresh, or a cliché your reader has seen a hundred times?
3. Does it suit the audience and the purpose?
4. Is there only one main image in each sentence?
5. Can a reader who does not share your culture still follow it?
6. In an exam answer, have you named it, quoted it and explained its effect?

Using AdeptWrite while you write

Draft your passage, then run it through the Grammar Checker to catch errors that the figure might hide, such as a missing comma after an introductory phrase or an agreement slip in a long metaphor-laden sentence. The Paraphrasing Tool can offer alternative wordings of a stale phrase, and the Sentence Rewriter helps when a figurative sentence has become tangled. These tools suggest changes; deciding which image fits your purpose is your call. Free runs handle up to 6,000 characters.

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