How can figurative language communicate meaning without being literally true?

Figurative language communicates meaning by using words or phrases that are not literally true to create analogies, evoke images, or emphasize specific qualities. Rather than describing reality in a literal sense, these rhetorical tools invite the audience to perceive a connection or likeness between two ostensibly dissimilar things.12

By bypassing strictly logical or literal interpretations, figurative language allows for a more expressive and effective exchange of ideas. Common methods include:13

• Metaphor and Simile: These establish comparisons—either implied or explicit—that fuse two concepts, allowing the characteristics of one to illuminate the other.13
• Hyperbole: This uses extreme exaggeration to emphasize a point or feeling, making the intensity of a situation clear without requiring literal accuracy.12
• Personification: By attributing human qualities to nonhuman objects, speakers can evoke specific moods or actions that a literal description might fail to capture.12
• Idioms: These expressions convey established cultural meanings that cannot be understood through the literal definitions of their individual words.1

Ultimately, these figures of speech function as a "transactional" tool, shaping how an audience conceptualizes information and responds to a speaker's intent.2