MEPX
Chapter 7 of 10All chapters
  1. 1Why context works
  2. 2The four clue types
  3. 3Word parts
  4. 4Shades of meaning
  5. 5Building vocabulary
  6. 6Vocabulary in exams
  7. 7Figurative use
  8. 8Academic and formal words
  9. 9Latin and Greek roots
  10. 10Keeping it

Chapter 7 of 10

Figurative use

When the literal sense is not meant.

Metaphor and idiom

Words routinely appear outside their literal meaning: a glowing review, a heated argument, a watershed moment. Context is the only guide to which sense is intended.

  • Idioms cannot be worked out from their parts.
  • Irony inverts meaning, and it depends entirely on tone and situation.

Technical senses

Ordinary words carry specific meanings inside a field: significant in statistics, force in physics, security in finance. Assuming the everyday sense is a common misreading.