Mr. A's Glossary | mr-anderson.com

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M

main idea

The gist of a passage; the central thought; the chief topic of a passage expressed or implied in a word or phrase; the topic sentence of a paragraph; a statement in sentence form which gives the stated or implied major topic of a passage and the specific way in which the passage is limited in content or reference.

masculine rhyme

Array

media

A means of communication, especially of mass communication, such as books, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, motion pictures and recordings.

meronym

1. A word that refers to a part of what another word refers to

in the relationship between leg and ankle, ankle is a meronym
in the relationship between brim and hat, brim is a meronym.

2. A term midway between two opposites
Examples:

flat between convex and concave
present between past and future.

• From Greek meros (=part).

metaphor

A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things (e.g., he's a tiger).

meter

the pattern of rhythm of syllables.

metonym

A word designates something by the name of something associated with it

Examples:

the Crown referring to the monarchy
the bottle referring to alcohol
the White House for the US executive branch.

• From Greek meta (=change).

metronym

A name derived from the name of one's mother, or another female ancestor.

From Greek metros (=mother).

monologue

An extended speech in a drama or a narrative that is presented by one character.

mood

The feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for a reader; a reflection of an author's attitude toward a subject or theme.

motivation

an inducement or incentive to action; in a story, the psychological or social factors that drive character action