Benito Casillas

Onomatopoeia The formation of a word, as cuckoo or boom, by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent A word so formed Rhetoric the use of imitative and naturally suggestive words for rhetorical effect.

Antagonist . a person who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with another; opponent; adversary. 2. the adversary of the hero or protagonist of a drama or other literary work: Iago is the antagonist of Othello. 3. Physiology. a muscle that acts in opposition to another.Compare agonist def. 3. 4. Dentistry. a tooth in one jaw that articulates during mastication or occlusion with a tooth in the opposing jaw. 5. Pharmacology. a drug that counteracts the effects of another drug.

Protagonist 1. the leading character, hero, or heroine of a drama or other literary work. 2. a proponent for or advocate of a political cause, social program, etc. 3. the leader or principal person in a movement, cause, etc. 4. the first actor in ancient Greek drama, who played not only the main role, but also other roles when the main character was offstage.Compare deuteragonist, tritagonist. 5. Physiology. agonist.

Foreshadowing verb (used with object) to show or indicate beforehand; prefigure: Political upheavals foreshadowed war. Use Foreshadowing in a Sentence See images of Foreshadowing Search Foreshadowing on the Web

Flashaback 1. a device in the narrative of a motion picture, novel, etc., by which an event or scene taking place before the present time in the narrative is inserted into the chronological structure of the work. 2. an event or scene so inserted. 3. Also called flashback hallucinosis. Psychiatry. a. the spontaneous recurrence of visual hallucinations or other effects of a drug, as LSD, long after the use of the drug has been discontinued. b. recurrent and abnormally vivid recollection of a traumatic experience, as a battle, sometimes accompanied by hallucinations. Use Flash back in a Sentence See images of Flash back Search Flash back on the Web

Alliteration . the commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either with the same consonant sound or sound group (consonantal alliteration), as in from stem to stern, or with a vowel sound that may differ from syllable to syllable (vocalic alliteration), as in each to all.Compare consonance def. 4a. 2. the commencement of two or more words of a word group with the same letter, as in apt alliteration's artful aid.

Imagery 1. the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things, or of such images collectively: the dim imagery of a dream. 2. pictorial images. 3. the use of rhetorical images. 4. figurative description or illustration; rhetorical images collectively. 5. Psychology. mental images collectively, esp. those produced by the action of imagination.

Rhyme 1. identity in sound of some part, esp. the end, of words or lines of verse. 2. a word agreeing with another in terminal sound: Find is a rhyme for mind and womankind. 3. verse or poetry having correspondence in the terminal sounds of the lines. 4. a poem or piece of verse having such correspondence. 5. verse def. 4.

Personifieation 1. the attribution of a personal nature or character to inanimate objects or abstract notions, esp. as a rhetorical figure. 2. the representation of a thing or abstraction in the form of a person, as in art. 3. the person or thing embodying a quality or the like; an embodiment or incarnation: He is the personification of tact. 4. an imaginary person or creature conceived or figured to represent a thing or abstraction. 5. the act of personifying. 6. a character portrayal or representation in a dramatic or literary work.

Paradox 1. a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. 2. a self-contradictory and false proposition. 3. any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature. 4. an opinion or statement contrary to commonly accepted opinion.

Metaphar 1. a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God.”Compare mixed metaphor, simile def. 1. 2. something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol. Use metaphor in a Sentence See images of metaphor Search metaphor on the Web

Simile 1. a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared, as in “she is like a rose.”Compare metaphor. 2. an instance of such a figure of speech or a use of words exemplifying it.

Analogy 1. a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based: the analogy between the heart and a pump. 2. similarity or comparability: I see no analogy between your problem and mine. 3. Biology. an analogous relationship. 4. Linguistics. a. the process by which words or phrases are created or re-formed according to existing patterns in the language, as when shoon was re-formed as shoes, when -ize is added to nouns like winter to form verbs, or when a child says foots for feet. b. a form resulting from such a process. 5. Logic. a form of reasoning in which one thing is inferred to be similar to another thing in a certain respect, on the basis of the known similarity between the things in other respects.

Hyperbole 1. obvious and intentional exaggeration. 2. an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as “to wait an eternity.”