After more than ten years, Ken Barker's list receives a supplement. There now are definitions of better-known devices, and a fair number of mostly Greek-named mechanisms worth a mention. Kudos to Błażej Szpakowicz for collecting them, and to the Web for making it easy to find the briefest definitions, above all to the untrustworthy but oh so useful Wikipedia.
adynaton
alliteration
anacoluthon
anadiplosis
anaphora (linguistics)
anaphora (rhetorics)
anastrophe
anthimeria
antimetabole
antonomasia
aphorism
apostrophe
apothegm or apophthegm
archaism
assonance
asyndeton
auxesis
catachresis
cataphora
consonance
dysphemism
enantiosis
epanalepsis
epanorthosis
epistrophe
epizeuxis
euphemism
hypallage
hyperbaton
hyperbole
hypocatastasis
hypocorisma
hypophora
isocolon
metalepsis
metaphor
neologism
onomatopoeia
oxymoron
parenthesis
paraprosdokian
polyptoton
portmanteau
prolepsis
prosopopeia
procatalepsis
retronym
simile
synesis
tautology

adynaton
A form of hyperbole so great as to suggest the impossible.
"When pigs fly," "When hell freezes over"

alliteration
The repetition of the same starting sound in several consecutive words.

anacoluthon
A rhetorical device loosely defined as a change of syntax within a sentence. Grammatically, it is an error, but in rhetoric it is a figure that shows excitement, confusion, or laziness.

anadiplosis
The rhetorical repetition of a word or phrase that ends one clause at the start of the next.

anaphora (linguistics)
A reference to a preceding utterance.
"I took an apple and ate it."

anaphora (rhetorics)
The repetition of words or phrases for rhetorical effect at the beginning of successive phrases.
Churchill's "We shall fight them on the beaches" speech.

anastrophe
Inversion of the natural order of words. "The forest primeval"

anthimeria The use of a word as if it were a different part of speech, usually of a noun as a verb.
to oscar, to google, to medal

antimetabole
The repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse order.
"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

antonomasia
The substitution of an epithet for a proper name.
"The Bard" for Shakespeare, "The Scottish Play" for MacBeth.

apostrophe
Figure of speech in which an absent person, a personified inanimate being, or an abstraction is addressed as though present.
"O death, where is thy sting?"

apothegm or apophthegm
A terse, instructive saying; a maxim.

aphorism
See apophthegm.

archaism
The deliberate use of an outdated form of language.
"Thee," "thy," etc.

assonance
Repetition of the same sound in nearby words.

asyndeton
The omission of conjunctions as a stylistic device.
"I came, I saw, I conquered."

auxesis
A form of hyperbole where something is referred to by a term disproportionate to its importance for the purpose of amplifying that importance.
ads referring to a film as an "epic"

catachresis
The intentional misapplication of a word to create an impossible figure of speech.
"The knife-edge of history."

cataphora
An expression that refers to a later expression in the sentence or text.

consonance
The repetition of consonants, particularly at the ends of words.

dysphemism
The substitution of a harsh, disparaging, or unpleasant expression for a more neutral one.
"Team A slaughtered team B."

enantiosis
A rhetorical device of ironically stating the opposite of what is meant.

epanalepsis
The repetition of a word or a phrase with intervening words in between, often at the beginning and end of a sentence.

epanorthosis
The rephrasing of an immediately preceding word or statement for the purpose of intensification, emphasis, or justification.
"Thousands, no, millions"

epistrophe
The repetition of words or phrases for rhetorical effect at the end of successive phrases.
"Government of the people, by the people, for the people."

epizeuxis
The repetition of words with no others in between, usually for emphasis.
"Words, words, words."

euphemism
The substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant.
"Passed away" instead of "died".

hypallage
A literary device that is the reversal of the syntactic relation of two words (as in "her beauty's face"). Also a trope or rhetorical device, in which a modifier, usually an adjective, is applied to the "wrong" word in the sentence.

hyperbaton
The use of a word order other than the expected or usual one.
"You I love," "Do or do not."

hyperbole
Intentional exaggeration for emphasis.
"He's a million years old," "to wait an eternity."

hypocatastasis
A comparison or representation that does not include the subject thereof.
"Beast!" as opposed to "You're a beast!"

hypocorisma
Pet name.

hypophora
Answering one's own (often rhetorical) question as a rhetorical device.

isocolon
The reinforcement of parallelism by the use of words of similar length.
"Veni, vidi, vici." "No ifs, ands or buts."

metalepsis
Making reference to an object by mentioning something only remotely associated with it.
The Japanese use of "hammer" for someone who cannot swim.

metaphor
An indirect comparison between objects that does not use "like," "as," etc.
"He's an animal."

neologism
The creation or use of new words or new senses of existing words.

onomatopoeia
The formation of a word by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent.
"Oink," "Buzz."

oxymoron
A figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms.
"That brilliant George W. Bush."

parenthesis
An aside, an explanatory or qualifying phrase inserted into a sentence to which it may have no grammatical connection.

paraprosdokian
The use of an unexpected ending to a list or phrase, usually for joking or dramatic effect.
"It was a beautiful morning, the birds were singing, the sun was shining, and then I was run over by a bus."

polyptoton
The repetition of different words derived from the same root ("strong" and "strength)".

portmanteau
A neologism created by merging two existing terms.
"Motel" from "motor hotel."

prolepsis
A figure of speech in which a future event is referred to in anticipation. (See also procatalepsis)
"Dead man walking."

prosopopeia
The representation of an absent or imaginary person or object as speaking.
"___ would be turning over in his grave."

procatalepsis
A figure of speech in which the speaker raises an objection to his own argument and then immediately answers it.

retronym
A modification of an existing term to distinguish it from newer variations.
"Silent film," "Acoustic Guitar."

simile
A comparison between two things, typically using "like" or "as."

synesis
A grammatical construction in which two words differ in number but agree in meaning.
"If anyone calls, tell them I'm out."

tautology
A redundancy, saying the same thing twice.
"free gift," "tuna fish"

Updated on September 7, 2009