AP English Language Glossary
Terms
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- ad hominem
- Directed to or appealing to feelings or prejudices
- adage
- A often metaphorical proverb containing truth based on experience
- allegory
- A story with a second meaning beneath the surface
- alliteration
- The repetition of one or more initial consonants
- allusion
- A reference to a person, place, or event to enhance the meaning of an idea
- antecedent
- A word to which a pronoun refers
- aphorism
- A short, pithy statement of a generally accepted truth or sentiment
- apollonian
- the most noble, godlike qualitites of human nature and behavior (ant. Dionysian)
- apostrophe
- a locution that addresses a person or personified thing not present
- arch
- (adj.)Characterized by clever or sly humor
- assonance
- the repetition of two or more vowel sounds in a group of words in prose/poetry
- bathos
- insincere or overdone sentimentality
- circumlocution
- Literally, "talking around" a subject
- conceit
- A witty or ingenious thought
- didactic
- in a dry manner, conveying information or teaching a lesson
- Dionysian
- sensual, pleasure-seeking impulses (ant. Apollonian)
- epigram
- A concise but ingenious, witty, and thoughtful statement
- malapropism
- a word of innappropriate meaning that sounds similar to the correct word
- metonymy
- one thing to represent something else with which it is associated
- motif
- A phrase, idea, or event that through repetition serves to convey a theme
- onomatopoeia
- The use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning
- pedantic
- Narrowly academic instead of broad and humane
- synecdoche
- a part signifies the whole
- Verisimilitude
- similar to the truth
- whimsy
- An object, device, or creation that is fanciful or rooted in unreality