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Figures of speech: Amplification

Techniques > Use of language > Figures of speech  > Figures of speech: Amplification

There is a family of figures of speech where a key element is amplification, exaggeration or enlargement of some sort in some form. Here they are:

• Adynaton: Exaggerated declaration of impossibility.
• Ampliatio: Using a name where it is not defined.
• Amplificatio: General enhancement of an argument.
• Anabasis: Stepwise increase in emphasis.
• Auxesis: Enhancement of importance.
• Bdelygmia: Expression of contempt or hatred.
• Climax: Words ordered in ascending power.
• Correctio: Correction to revise meaning.
• Epizeuxis: Repetition of a word with vehemence.
• Hyperbole: Deliberate over-exaggeration.
• Distinctio: Describing something by saying what it is not.
• Dysphemism: Substituting a mild word with a stronger one.
• Dystmesis: Inserting one word into the middle of another.
• Enumeratio: Breaking down and detailing a subject.
• Epanorthosis: In-sentence correction.
• Parrhesia: Boldness of speech.
• Synonymia: Repeating synonyms for amplification.
• Tricolon: Three components, increasing power.

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