linguistics the study of language and speech.
litotes a form of irony or understatement, achieved by the use of inverted phrasing, for example, "not bad," or "I can't disagree with that."
localism a word or expression unique to a particular community or region.
loganamnosis an obsession to remember a forgotten word.
logomasia an extreme distaste for certain words.
lost positives words whose positive forms are no longer in common use, such as "gruntled" from "disgruntled."
lyricism prose executed in a poetically descriptive style.
malapropism the incorrect use of a word that sounds similar to another word, often with humorous results, for example, "I'll sue him for defecation (defamation) of character," or "a pigment (figment) of the imagination."
malonym a metaphor, cliche, or popular expression in which an incorrect word is used, for example, "let's go hole (whole) hog on this," or "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him think (drink)."
mealymouthed dishonest, evasive; overly euphemistic in speech.
meiosis a form of understatement or underemphasis used to achieve an ironic effect.
melioration the acquisition of a positive meaning by a word that has traditionally had a negative meaning, for example, "bad" is now sometimes used as the equivalent of "cool" or "good."
mendaciloquence artful lying.
metaphor a figure of speech characterized by an implied comparison between two things that are different, for example, "all the world's a stage," or "the evening of life," or "the company is a big ship to turn around."
metastasis in a debate, the mentioning of a subject in a casual manner, as if it were trivial.
metathesis the historical transposing of letters or syllables in a word to create a new, permanent spelling or pronunciation, such as, Old English "brid" to "bird."
metonymy a figure of speech that substitutes a word or phrase with a word or phrase that is closely associated, as in "brass" for military officers, or "the Crown" for British monarchy.
metric prose prose with a poetic rhythm.
mincing word a coyly euphemistic word used to avoid using an undainty word.
misnomer an incorrect word, name, title, belief, and so forth.
mixaprop a fusion of a mixed metaphor and a mal- apropism, for example, "It took more wind out of his sails than a fish without water."
mixed metaphor the incorrect fusing of two or more metaphors in a single sentence, such as "if he faces the music, it will fall on deaf ears."
neologism a newly created word or expression; an old word given a new meaning. Also, a meaningless or nonsense word coined by a mentally ill person.
nom de plume a pen name; a pseudonym.
non sequitur a remark that is not relevant to the argument at hand; an inference that does not follow from the premise; literally, it does not follow.
nosism the annoying use of "we" to denote oneself in speech or writing.
nudis verbis in naked words.
obfuscate to make unclear or obscure; to use overblown or highly technical language pretentiously.
officialese bureaucratic jargon; government obfus- cation; official, formal language.
off-the-cuff spoken casually without preparation.
onomatopoeia the use of a word that sounds like what it represents, such as "chirp," "boom," "gurgle," "swish."
oxymoron a figure of speech characterized by the juxtaposition of words that seem incongruous or contradictory, as in a "cheerful pessimist," "cruel kindness," "eloquent silence."
pabulum insipid writing or ideas; mindless drivel.
padding intentional wordiness, used to lengthen a written work or speech.
palilogy repeating a word in a sentence, for effect. pan a bad review. pap pabulum.
paradiastole the use of euphemistic language to describe something, as in describing a brothel as a "spirited household."
paradox an apparently contradictory statement that may nevertheless be true, for example, "The man 300 language
in the time travel story travelled back in time, shot his parents, and then ceased to exist."
paraphrase to restate in different words.
parataxis the use of sentences without conjunctions, especially "and" or "but."
parlance a characteristic manner of speech.
paroemiology the subject of proverbs.
paronym a word having the same derivation or root as another word, as in "beautiful" and "beauteous."
parrot to repeat mindlessly what someone else has said; to imitate without understanding, as a parrot.
pathopoeia agitating or arousing emotion through rhetoric.
pedantry showing off one's education through speech or writing.
periphrasis the overuse of words, especially indirect ones, to say something. Also, any indirect statement.
personification giving human attributes to abstractions or inanimate objects.
philology the study of historical linguistics.
philophronesis acting submissive and humble in order to mollify someone's anger.
phoneticism spelling a word differently than normal to illustrate its pronunciation, such as the Australian word "mate" spelled "mite."
platform rhetoric the form of oratory most commonly used by politicians.
platitude a trite remark; an obvious or simple observation presented as if it were brilliant.
poetic license breaking the standard rules of form, diction, style, in poetry or prose.
polysyndeton the frequent use of conjunctions, especially "and," in a sentence with multiple clauses.
pontificate to speak with pompous authority.
prosonomasia a form of pun composed of someone's name, for example, Larry Bird-beak, Katherine Lipburn.
pseudandry the use of a man's pen name by a female writer.
pseudogyny the use of a woman's pen name by a male writer.
psychobabble the jargon used by psychologists and psychiatrists, and especially by those who try to imitate them.
purple prose overblown, overwritten, flowery, or ornate prose; overly poetic prose.
red herring an irrelevant issue designed to draw attention away from the matter at hand, frequently used by politicians and mystery writers.
redundancy unnecessary repetition, as in "merge together," "erupt violently," "gather together," "free gift."
rehash stuff that has been done before; old, reworked material.
rejoinder a reply to a reply.
repartee witty or clever banter.
rhetoric the art of persuasive oratory or writing; the style, content, and structure of speech or writing.
rhetorical question a question that requires no answer; a question with an obvious answer.
satire a literary work that uses irony, wit, and humor to expose evil or folly.
satirist a person who writes satires or who uses wit and humor to expose evil or folly.