anonym an anonymous person or an anonymous publication. Also, a concept or idea that has no word to express or describe it.
antiphrasis a form of sarcasm or irony in which the exact opposite of the normal line is used, for effect, as in saying, "Great, wonderful!" in response to your car being stolen, or "it's a tough job, but someone's got to do it," when judging a beauty contest.
antithesis the juxtaposing of sharply contrasting ideas or words, as in "a noisy kind of peace can be found in the camaraderie of war."
antonym a word opposite in meaning to another word. The opposite of a synonym.
aphorism a brief statement that succinctly illustrates a principle or truth.
apocope the omission of a letter at the end of a word, as in "thinkin'" for "thinking."
apocrypha literary works of questionable authenticity or authorship.
aporia admitting to speechlessness; at a loss for words.
apostil an annotation in the margin.
archaism in speaking or writing, a word or expression that is out of date or antiquated, as in "forsooth, fair maiden."
argot any special vocabulary or jargon used by a group or class of people.
aside on the stage, a portion of dialogue intended for the ears of the audience only; any confidential dialogue.
assonance a resemblance in sound of words, syllables, or vowels, for effect, as in "winking, blinking, thinking—the robot looked about with alarm."
asyndeton leaving out conjunctions such as "and" between clauses, for effect, as in "we went to the store, walked in quietly, ordered three pounds of ham, left."
a verbis ad verbera from words to blows.
axiom a universally recognized truth or principle.
ballyhoo hype, exaggeration.
barb a sharp-tongued remark; a caustic observation.
barbarism the use of a word that is nonstandard or not accepted by society.
belles lettres literary works appreciated for their aesthetic value rather than their educational content, such as poetry, drama.
bidialectalism the use of two dialects, one informal and one formal or proper, within a language.
bilge worthless talk.
blarney sweet-talking flattery.
blather long-winded, stupid talk.
blurb a brief statement of praise or laudatory quote on a book cover.
bon mot a witticism.
brickbat an insult or blunt criticism.
bromide a common and overused remark or observation; a platitude.
cablese an extremely brief or shorthand style of writing, as in that found in a telegram.
cacography poor handwriting. Also, incorrect spelling.
cacology poor or improper pronunciation or diction.
cant whining, pleading, or monotonous speech. Also, any moral, hypocritical language. Also, the jargon of a group or class.
catachresis the incorrect use of a word that has been confused with another word. Also, a paradoxical figure of speech, as in "Latin has always been Greek to me."
catchfools words that are sometimes confused with one another because of their similarity in sound or spelling, for example, masticate and masturbate, deprecate and depreciate. Also known as dangerous pairs.
causerie any conversational or casual piece of writing.
charientism an insult so subtly presented that it is believed by the recipient to be unintended.
chestnut a joke, story, or expression that has been around and repeated for too long.
cheval de bataille a phrase referring to a person's pet topic or favorite argument; literally, battle horse.
cheville an extraneous word added to the end of a line of poetry to make it flow evenly; literally, a rag.
circumlocution evasive or indirect language achieved by wordiness.
classicism any ancient Greek or Roman word or phrase in English.
cliche any tired, trite, unoriginal, stale, and overused expression.
clinquant a show-off style of writing.
clipped word a word that is clipped of letters or syllables or altered in some way for use in informal speech, such as "flu" for "influenza" or "fish pole" for "fishing pole."
coinage the invention of a new word or expression.
colloquial in speech or writing, characteristic of any natural conversational language; informal.
colloquialism an informal expression of everyday speech.
colloquy a formal or mannered conversation.
commoratio the pounding home of a point by repeating its principles in different words.
communique an official communication or announcement.
compendium a short summary.
comprobatio flattering a person in order to win him over in an argument.
connotation the implied or suggestive meaning of a word other than its literal one.
consensus gentium fallacy "common opinion of the nations." The use of the erroneous argument that something must be true because so many people believe it to be true.
constructio ad sensum the construction of sentences by sound or instinct rather than by grammatical rules.
contraction the shortening of a word through removal of one or more of its letters, sometimes indicated by an apostrophe, as in "isn't" for "is not."
conundrum a perplexing riddle or problem whose answer involves a pun.
corruption an alteration of a word or term; an improper word usage.
creole a type of language that evolves when two groups having their own languages integrate. Also known as creolized language.
dangler a misplaced modifier that gives a sentence an unintended and often humorous meaning, as in "Rifling through my papers, the elephant appeared in front of me."
dead metaphor a metaphor that has become cliched.
decapitable sentence a poorly constructed sentence characterized by overlapping subordinate clauses. Also known as an accordion sentence.
diacritical mark a mark over a character or letter to indicate accent or pronunciation.
dialect a provincial form of a language, characterized by its own idiom, pronunciation, or grammar.
dichaeologia any form of rhetoric used to defend one's failure by blaming it on everything and everybody but oneself.
diction use and choice of words in speech and writing.
digression straying from the main topic.
dilogy any statement that has an unintentional double meaning.
dissertation a treatise; a formal and in-depth investigation or observation of a subject, often a requirement for a degree.
double entendre an ambiguous word or statement with an underlying meaning that is risque or provocative.
double negative the incorrect use of two negatives in one sentence, as in "he doesn't know nobody there."
doublespeak wordy, evasive, or obscure language used to gloss over a subject or hoodwink listeners with circumlocution.
echoic word a word that sounds like the subject it represents, as in "tick-tock," "crackle," "pop," "swish," "gong."