Figurative Language

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Figurative Language
Academic Vocabulary
For Middle School
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WHAT IS FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE?
Figurative language is a word or phrase that
departs from everyday literal language for the
sake of comparison, emphasis, clarity, or
freshness
WHY USE FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE?
Used well, figurative language enhances your
writing and can be an economical way of getting
an image or a point across. However, used
incorrectly, figurative language can be confusing
or downright silly.
1. Hyperbole
• Extreme Exaggeration used to make a
point:
– “If I have told you once, I have told you
thousand times…”
– “My dog is so smart he can leap into a burning
building and save a baby.”
2. Alliteration
• Reuse of beginning sounds not letters:
– “The king can’t rule with a carrot; he must use
his crown.
– “Mary made muffins with her maid.”
– “The pretty pony paraded through the posy
patch.”
3. Personification
• Giving human characteristics to nonhuman things:
– “The dog told me I needed to pay closer
attention.”
– “The boulder smiled at me as it glistened in
the sun.”
– “The sea was calling me to come and join it.”
4. Onomatopoeia
• Words that make their own sounds.
– “Crash went the waves on the shore.”
– “Bang, bang went the gun.”
– “Roof, roof went the dog.”
5. Simile
• A comparison using the words “like” or
“as”:
– “She was as pretty as a peacock.”
– “He talked like a dog barking out orders.”
– “The kitten looked like a skunk with the strip
down his back.”
6. Metaphor
• A comparison WITHOUT using the words
“like” or “as”:
– “Talk about bad moods, my dad was a bear
this morning.”
– “The king is a majestic elk.”
– “Music is the doctor for what ails our soul.”
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7. Idiom
• Old sayings an cliché’s that have been wayover used but that people recognize their
meanings. Their words have different
meanings from the dictionary:
– “It is raining cats and dogs.”
– “They are a dime a dozen.”
– “Two heads are better than one.”
– “Blood is thicker than water.”
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8. Imagery
• Most figurative language is ALL
considered “imagery.” It is when you
“Paint a Picture with Words.” Or, the
formation of mental images through
words:
– “Her beauty was like a dream.”
– “The succulent, bubbly pizza ignited my
senses as I waited for a tasty bit.”
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9. Pun
• A form of “word play” in which
words have a double meaning.
• I wondered why the baseball
was getting bigger and then it
hit me.
• I’m reading a book about antigravity. It’s impossible to put
it down.
• I was going to look for my
missing watch, but I didn’t
have the time.
Symbolism
• When a person,
place, thing, or
event that has
meaning in itself
also represents,
or stands for,
something else.
=
Innocence
=
America
=
Peace

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