Title: Figurative Language - Definition and Examples | LitCharts
Headings: Figurative Language
Figurative Language
Figurative Language Definition
Figurative Language Pronunciation
Figures of Speech and Figurative Language
The Different Things People Mean When They Say Figurative Language
Common Types of Figurative Language
Figurative Language vs. Imagery
Figurative Language Examples
Figurative Language Example: Metaphor
Metaphor in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Figurative Language Example: Simile
Figurative Language Example: Oxymoron
Figurative Language Example: Hyperbole
Figurative Language Example: Personification
Figurative Language Example: Idiom
Figurative Language Example: Onomatopoeia
Figurative Language Example: Synecdoche
Figurative Language Example: Metonymy
Figurative Language Example: Alliteration
Why Do Writers Use Figurative Language?
Other Helpful Figurative Language Resources

Content: The following sentence uses imagery to give the reader a sense of how what is being described looks, feels, smells, and sounds: The night was dark and humid, the scent of rotting vegetation hung in the air, and only the sound of mosquitoes broke the quiet of the swamp. This sentence uses no figurative language. Every word means exactly what it says, and the sentence is still an example of the use of imagery. That said, imagery can use figurative language, often to powerful effect: The night was dark and humid, heavy with a scent of rotting vegetation like a great-aunt's heavy and inescapable perfume, and only the whining buzz of mosquitoes broke the silence of the swamp. In this sentence, the description has been made more powerful through the use of a simile ("like a great-aunt's..."), onomatopoeia ("whining buzz," which not only describes but actually sounds like the noise made by mosquitoes), and even a bit of alliteration in the " s ilence of the s wamp." To sum up: imagery is not a form of figurative language. But a writer can enhance his or her effort to write imagery through the use of figurative language.