Substitution

Acyrologia (ak-ir-o-lo’-gi-a) is an unintended use of the wrong word often by someone attempting to sound educated or erudite. “O, villain! Thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this!” Much Ado About Nothing, 4.2.38. Dogberry used “redemption” instead of “damnation.” The modern term for this figure is malapropism.  Malapropism is a neologismA new, deliberately invented word. inspired by the name of the character Mrs. Malaprop, in Richard Sheridan’s The Rivals, 1775. Her name is an abbreviated portmanteauA neologism created by combining two words. that combines the prefix mal. meaning bad, with appropriate.

Anthimeria (an-thi-mer’-i-a) is the substitution of one part of speech for another. A word is used as a different part of speech than it usually is. “When the rain came to wet me once and the wind to make me chatter, when the thunder would not peace at my bidding,” King Lear, 4.6.114.

Anthropomorphism is the portrayal of an animal with human abilities, e.g. speaking. It differs from personification, which rhetorically portrays inanimate objects or abstractions with having human characteristics.

Catachresis (kat-a-kree’-sis) is an implied or mixed metaphor, in which usually a verb or adjective are misapplied to the noun they reference. “Lent him our terror, dressed him with our love,” Measure for Measure. 1.1.3. Related to hyperbole and synaesthesia.

Enallage (e-nal’-la-ge) is the intentional use of a different gender, person, case, number, or tense when another is expected to characterize a speaker or to create a memorable phrase. “This dream of mine— / Being now awake, I’ll queen it no inch farther, / But milk my ewes and weep.” Winter’s Tale, 4.4.490.

Erotema (e-ro-tem’-a) is a classical term for rhetorical question.

Euphemism (u’-fa-miz’-em) is a substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensive.

Hypallage (hy-pal’-la-ge) is a classical term for transferred epithet.

Irony (i’-ron-ee) is the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. “Prodigious birth of love it is to me / That I must love a loathèd enemy.” Romeo and Juliet, 1.5.152

Litotes (li-to’-tees) is an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite. “He hath not failed to pester us with message.” Hamlet, 1.2.1

See acyrologia, which is the classical term for malapropism, a confused use of words in which an appropriate word is replaced by one with a similar sound but a ludicrously inappropriate meaning. Malapropism is a neologismA new, deliberately invented word. inspired by the name of the character Mrs. Malaprop, in Richard Sheridan’s The Rivals, 1775. Her name is an abbreviated portmanteauA neologism created by combining two words. for mal-appropriate.

Metonymy (me-ton’-y-my) is a type of metaphor that substitutes a related attribute for what is meant. If someone asks how many plates there are going to be at dinner, they’re asking about the number of guests. Plates are not parts of the guests, they’re related to dinner guests. This is different from synecdoche, in which a part of a person or thing refers to the whole, or vice versa. In “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown,” “head” is a synecdoche for the whole person of the king while “crown” is a metonymy for the responsibilities of the monarchy.

Onomatopoeia (on-o-mat-o-pee’-a) is the use of words to imitate natural sounds. “Bow-wow. / Hark, hark! I hear / The strain of strutting chanticleer / Cry cock-a-diddle-dow.” The Tempest, 1.2.452

Paronomasia is word play, especially involving words with similar sounds but more than one meaning. “Now is the winter or our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York…” Richard III, 1.1.1. Related to adnominatio and polyptoton.

Periphrasis is the use of elaborate description for what is normally a common word, phrase or proper name — or of a proper name, e.g. Venus for a description, i.e, beautiful and seductive. “Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope / The Lord’s anointed temple and stole thence / The life o’ th’ building.” Macbeth, 2.3.73. A type of circumlocution — excessive words are used in a roundabout manner; also see ambage — excessive words used to create ambiguity or misdirection.

Personification is endowing an inanimate object or abstraction with human qualities or abilities. “Nor shall Death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,” Sonnet 18. It differs from anthropomorphism, which portrays animals as having human abilities such as speaking.

Prosopopoeia is a form of personification in which an inanimate object gains the ability to speak.

Puns are word play using different senses of the same word and or similar senses or sounds of different words.

A rhetorical question is one whose answer is so obvious that neither the speaker nor the listener is not expected. “For who so firm that cannot be seduc’d?” Julius Caesar, 1.2.320. Also see rogatio.

Synecdoche is a specific type of metaphor in which a part of an object or person is used for the whole, or conversely the whole for the part. For example, in “Who’s got the wheels to get us to the movie?”, “wheels” refers to a car. Conversely, in “I’m going to get the car tuned up,” “car” refers to the engine. This is different from metonymy, which substitutes a related attribute rather than a part of a thing or person. In “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown,” “head” is a synecdoche and crown is a metonymy.

Transferred epithets are adjectives that should properly modify one word but is shifted to another word in the same sentence. “The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love,” Romeo and Juliet, 1P.1