Descriptionary

a verbis ad verbera from words to blows.

axiom a universally recognized truth or principle.

ballyhoo hype, exaggeration.

barb a sharp-tongued remark; a caustic observation.

barbarism the use of a word that is nonstandard or not accepted by society.

belles lettres literary works appreciated for their aesthetic value rather than their educational content, such as poetry, drama.

bidialectalism the use of two dialects, one informal and one formal or proper, within a language.

bilge worthless talk.

blarney sweet-talking flattery.

blather long-winded, stupid talk.

blurb a brief statement of praise or laudatory quote on a book cover.

bon mot a witticism.

brickbat an insult or blunt criticism.

bromide a common and overused remark or obser­vation; a platitude.

cablese an extremely brief or shorthand style of writing, as in that found in a telegram.

cacography poor handwriting. Also, incorrect spelling.

cacology poor or improper pronunciation or diction.

cant whining, pleading, or monotonous speech. Also, any moral, hypocritical language. Also, the jar­gon of a group or class.

catachresis the incorrect use of a word that has been confused with another word. Also, a paradoxi­cal figure of speech, as in "Latin has always been Greek to me."

catchfools words that are sometimes confused with one another because of their similarity in sound or spelling, for example, masticate and masturbate, dep­recate and depreciate. Also known as dangerous pairs.

causerie any conversational or casual piece of writing.

charientism an insult so subtly presented that it is believed by the recipient to be unintended.

chestnut a joke, story, or expression that has been around and repeated for too long.

cheval de bataille a phrase referring to a person's pet topic or favorite argument; literally, battle horse.

cheville an extraneous word added to the end of a line of poetry to make it flow evenly; literally, a rag.

circumlocution evasive or indirect language achieved by wordiness.

classicism any ancient Greek or Roman word or phrase in English.

cliche any tired, trite, unoriginal, stale, and over­used expression.

clinquant a show-off style of writing.

clipped word a word that is clipped of letters or syllables or altered in some way for use in informal speech, such as "flu" for "influenza" or "fish pole" for "fishing pole."

coinage the invention of a new word or expression.

colloquial in speech or writing, characteristic of any natural conversational language; informal.

colloquialism an informal expression of everyday speech.

colloquy a formal or mannered conversation.

commoratio the pounding home of a point by repeating its principles in different words.

communique an official communication or announcement.

compendium a short summary.

comprobatio flattering a person in order to win him over in an argument.

connotation the implied or suggestive meaning of a word other than its literal one.

consensus gentium fallacy "common opinion of the nations." The use of the erroneous argument that something must be true because so many people believe it to be true.

constructio ad sensum the construction of sen­tences by sound or instinct rather than by grammati­cal rules.

contraction the shortening of a word through removal of one or more of its letters, sometimes indicated by an apostrophe, as in "isn't" for "is not."

conundrum a perplexing riddle or problem whose answer involves a pun.

corruption an alteration of a word or term; an improper word usage.

creole a type of language that evolves when two groups having their own languages integrate. Also known as creolized language.

dangler a misplaced modifier that gives a sentence an unintended and often humorous meaning, as in "Rifling through my papers, the elephant appeared in front of me."

dead metaphor a metaphor that has become cliched.

decapitable sentence a poorly constructed sentence characterized by overlapping subordinate clauses. Also known as an accordion sentence.

diacritical mark a mark over a character or letter to indicate accent or pronunciation.

dialect a provincial form of a language, character­ized by its own idiom, pronunciation, or grammar.

dichaeologia any form of rhetoric used to defend one's failure by blaming it on everything and every­body but oneself.

diction use and choice of words in speech and writing.

digression straying from the main topic.

dilogy any statement that has an unintentional dou­ble meaning.

dissertation a treatise; a formal and in-depth inves­tigation or observation of a subject, often a require­ment for a degree.