Figure of speech

A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a category of literary or linguistic terms, with two related meanings. The first meaning is the broader and more technical one: a synonym for literary device, particularly when divided into two sub-types: schemes, variations deviating from the usual sequence of words, and tropes or figures, deviations of the words themselves from ordinary usage. This meaning dates back to the Renaissance humanists, themselves inspired by the classical rhetoricians.

The second meaning of figure of speech is narrower, and, colloquially, its most common one—essentially, a synonym for trope as defined above: any word or phrase that deviates from straightforward language use or literal meaning to produce a persuasive or other intensified effect (emotionally, aesthetically, intellectually, etc.). In the distinction between literal and figurative language, figures of speech constitute the latter.

This article focuses on the first, broader meaning.