Figurative Language Examples: 18 Devices with Definitions and Examples

A comparison using "like" or "as".

"Life is like a box of chocolates." — Forrest Gump

Creates vivid comparisons that help readers see something familiar in a new way.

A direct comparison — saying one thing is another.

"All the world's a stage, / And all the men and women merely players." — Shakespeare

Transforms how we understand a concept by identifying it with something else entirely.

Giving human qualities to non-human things.

"The wind whispered through the trees." — the wind has no voice; giving it one creates atmosphere.

Makes abstract forces and objects emotionally immediate by making them behave like people.

Extreme exaggeration for emphasis or effect.

"I've told you a million times." — obviously not literally a million; the exaggeration expresses frustration.

Conveys intensity or emotion that literal language cannot capture.

An object, person, or event that represents something beyond itself.

The green light at the end of Daisy's dock in The Great Gatsby — it represents Gatsby's dream and the larger American Dream.

Allows a single concrete image to carry layers of meaning throughout a work.

Repetition of the same consonant sound at the start of nearby words.

"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers." — each stressed word begins with P.

Creates musicality and rhythm; draws attention to grouped words.

A word that phonetically imitates the sound it describes.

"The bees buzzed." — "buzzed" sounds like what it describes.

Adds sensory immediacy; makes writing feel heard as well as read.

Language that appeals to the senses — sight, sound, smell, taste, touch.

"The fog comes on little cat feet." — Sandburg. Visual and tactile at once.

Makes writing physically present to the reader.

A gap between what is said and what is meant, or between expectation and reality.

"It's a beautiful day," she said, stepping into the pouring rain.

Creates tension between surface meaning and real meaning; can be comic or tragic.

An indirect reference to a person, event, work of art, or myth.

"He has a Midas touch" — alluding to the Greek myth of the king whose touch turned everything to gold.

Layers meaning by importing the context of the referenced work into the new text.

Two contradictory terms placed together to reveal a deeper truth.

"The silence was deafening." — silence cannot deafen; the contradiction captures overwhelming quiet.

Captures paradox; often more precise than a non-contradictory statement.

A mild or indirect word substituted for one that might seem harsh or blunt.

"Passed away" for "died." — softens the fact; reveals what a society fears to name.

Reveals social anxieties; in fiction, shows character through what they refuse to say directly.

Repetition of a word or phrase at the start of successive clauses.

"I have a dream... I have a dream... I have a dream." — Martin Luther King Jr.

Creates rhythm, emphasis, and emotional force through accumulation.

Placing two contrasting things side by side to highlight their differences.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." — Dickens. The opening of A Tale of Two Cities.

Creates meaning through contrast; forces the reader to see each element in light of the other.

A hint or suggestion of what is to come later in the narrative.

The witches' prophecies in Macbeth — they point toward the ending while leaving its exact shape unclear.

Creates suspense and, in retrospect, inevitability.

A metaphor that is developed consistently across several lines or an entire work.

John Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" — two lovers compared to a compass across the entire poem.

Allows a comparison to become a sustained argument; every extension reveals a new facet.

Repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words.

"Hear the mellow wedding bells." — Poe. The repeated short "e" creates musicality.

Creates internal rhyme and sound texture; slows or accelerates pace.

A recurring element — image, phrase, or idea — that develops meaning through repetition.

Blindness in King Lear — literal and metaphorical; Gloucester's physical blindness mirrors Lear's moral blindness.

Ties a work together thematically; each recurrence adds meaning to all previous instances.

Use the device that does the job

Different devices do different things. If you want to show intensity, hyperbole. If you want to link two unlike things to create a new understanding, metaphor or simile. If you want to create sound texture, alliteration or assonance. Choose the device for what it does, not for variety.

Be specific

Figurative language fails when it's generic. "She was as cold as ice" is dead — it no longer creates an image. "She was as cold as an empty house in January" is alive because it's specific. The more particular the comparison, the more vivid the effect.

Don't mix metaphors

A mixed metaphor — "we need to grab the bull by the horns and nip this in the bud" — creates an incoherent image. Every metaphor invokes a frame; mixing frames produces confusion rather than clarity.

Avoid clichés

A cliché is a figurative expression that has been used so many times it no longer creates an image. "Cold as ice," "quick as a flash," "heart of gold" — the reader slides past them without seeing. Find original comparisons or abandon the device.

Let the device be invisible

The best figurative language is not noticed as figurative language — the reader simply finds themselves seeing more clearly, feeling more intensely. If the device calls attention to itself, it is likely working too hard.