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This glossary contains definitions for words used throughout the website.  If you have a suggestion of a word that should be included here, please e-mail me at tim@mr-anderson.com.



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A

acronym

:

A word formed from the initial letter or letters of each word in a set of words.

Examples:

  • NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • radar - RAdio Detecting and Ranging
  • NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • scuba - self contained underwater breating apparatus
• From Greek akros (=point, tip).
Keyword(s):

allegory

:
A metaphorical narrative in prose or verse in which fictional figures and actions usually represent truths or generalizations about human existence.

alliteration

:

The repetition of of initial vowels or consonants at the beginning of words (e.g., winter wind, slurp and soul, or omit and open.

allusion

:

a reference to a famous person, place, event, or work of literature. 

alphabetic principle

:
The assumption underlying alphabetic writing systems that each speech sound or phoneme of a language has its own distinctive graphic representation.

ambiguities

:
Statements or arguments used in a work that may have more than one meaning or interpretation.

amphibrach

:
Array

amphimacer

:
Array

analogy

:
A method of explaining something unfamiliar by using a comparison of similar, more familiar things; a form of reasoning in which one thing is inferred to be similar to another thing in a certain respect, on the basis of the known similarity between the things in other respects (e.g., part to whole, synonym and antonym, degree or cause and effect).

anapest

:
a three-syllable foot with the stress on the third.

anecdote

:
A brief narrative of an interesting, unusual or biographical event often used to illustrate a point.

antagonist

:
The character (or force) that opposes the protagonist.

antonym

:

A word opposite in meaning to another word

Example:

  • good and bad
  • fast and slow
  • elated and melancholy
From Greek anti (=against)

apostrophe

:
Array

appeal to authority

:
To call upon an individual or other source as an expert to give credence to an argument made by an author of a work.

appeal to emotion

:
When a speaker or writer builds an argument using expressive language or other devices instead of presenting evidence; a fallacy in arguments

appeal to reason

:
To call upon a reader's ability to think in a rational way in order to cause a change in his or her thoughts.

aptronym

:
A person's name that matches it's owner's occupation or character very well (either in fiction or reality)

Examples:
  • arctic explorer Will Snow
  • hairdresser Dan Druff
• From apt (=suitable); coined by Franklin P. Adams.

assonance

:
The close repetition of middle vowel sounds (e.g., stony and holy).

autoantonym

:
A word that can take two (or more) opposite meanings;

Examples:
  • fast means "moving quickly" or "fixed firmly in place"
  • overlook means "to watch over carefully" or "to fail to notice"
• From Greek auto (=self) + anti (=against).
• Often hyphenated as auto-antonym.
Keyword(s):

autonym

:
1. A word that describes itself
Examples:
  • noun is a noun
  • polysyllabic is polysyllabic
  • abbrv. is an abbreviation
  • word is a word.
2. A person's real name; the opposite of pseudonym.

3. A name by which a social group or race refers to itself.

•From Greek auto (=self).

Keyword(s):