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Figures of Speech Involving Overstatement or Understatement |
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This category has four major types of figures: Hyperbole, Litotes, Irony, and Pleonasm. These may be the most interesting types in our little study. The purpose of these figures is for emphasis and impression.
HYPERBOLE [Hy-per’-bo-le]
Example: Matt. 23:24 – Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Psa. 119:136 - Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law
Gen. 22:17 - That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; …
Deu. 1:28 …. the cities are great and walled up to heaven;
Psa. 6:6 - I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
Matt. 16:26 - For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
- Zuck . . . A Hyperbole is a deliberate (gross) exaggeration, in which more is said than is literally meant, in order to add emphasis.
- Mickelsen . . . Hyperbole is conscious exaggeration by the writer to gain effect.
- Bullinger . . . A Hyperbole is when more is said than is meant to be literally understood, in order to heighten the sense.
LITOTES [Li’-to-tees]
Example: Acts 12:18 – Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was become Peter.
Numb. 13:33 …. we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Gen. 18:27 - And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes
1 Sam. 24:14 - After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.
- Zuck . . . A Litotes is an understatement or a negative statement to express an affirmation. This is opposite of Hyperbole.
- Mickelsen . . . Literally it is a belittling of one thing to magnify another. In this figure a negative statement is used to declare an affirmative truth. A milder form is found where simple understatement heightens the action which is being described.
- Bullinger . . . In this figure one thing is diminished in order to increase another thing. One thing is lowered in order to magnify and intensify something else by way of contrast. It is used for the purpose of emphasis; to call our attention, not to the smallness of the thing thus lessened, but to the importance of that which is put in contrast with it.
IRONY [I’-ron-y]
Example: Job 12:2 – No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. (All the wisdom of this world shall end when you are gone)
2 Sam. 6:20 …. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself.
1 Kings 18:27 - And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked
Mark 7:9 - And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
- Zuck . . . Irony is a kind of ridicule expressed indirectly in the form of a compliment. Irony is often conveyed by the speaker’s tone of voice to that the hearers know that the irony is intended. This sometimes makes it difficult to determine whether a written statement is to be taken as irony. But the context usually helps determine whether irony is being used.
- Mickelsen . . . In Irony the writer or speaker uses words to denote the exact opposite of what the language declares. Context is essential in recognizing irony. We must know the surroundings of the speaker and his relationship to the person to whom he speaks. Irony is vivid. When it is grasped and recognized, it often carries a significant weight of meaning.
- Bullinger . . . This figure is used when the speaker intends to convey a sense contrary to the strict signification of the meaning, but for the purpose of adding greater force to it.
PLEONASM [Ple’-o-nasm]
Example: Job 42:5 – I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
Gen 1:20 ….and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
Gen. 40:23 - Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.
Ex. 12:20 - Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.
Deut. 32:6 …. O foolish people and unwise?
- Zuck . . . Pleonasm is a repetition of words or the adding of similar words, which in English would seem redundant.
- Mickelsen . . . Literally it is when more words are used than the grammar requires. In Pleonasm the writer repeats an idea, which has already been expressed.
- Bullinger . . . In this figure there appears to be a redundancy of words in a sentence; and the sense is grammatically complete without them. But this redundancy is only apparent. These words are not really superfluous when used by the Holy Spirit, nor are they idle or useless. They are necessary to fill up the sense, which without them would be incompetent and imperfect.
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Next: Figures of Speech Involving Inconsistency
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This page last updated April 21, 2005
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