How can I use figurative language to enhance my writing?

Simile like as Compare things by using the words like or as. Examples: My dog eats like a pig. My dog is as mixed up as a liger. The dragon has scales like armor. I’m as brave as a lion. The clouds are as soft as my pillow. My dog is as jumpy as a jack rabbit.

Metaphor Compare things without using the words like or as. Examples: The night was a dark cloak. A colorful quilt of leaves covered the lawn. The moon was white marble.

Hyperbole Extravagant exaggeration made to show great drama (typically things that can’t really happen). Examples: I could sleep for a year. I could eat a horse. This book weighs a ton.

Alliteration The repetition of an initial sound in two or more words of a phrase or line of poetry. Examples: The clock could climb courageously up the colored wall. The jumping jelly bean was jolly. The courageous kid could kick the soccer ball off the field.

Personification Giving human traits/characteristics to non human objects. Examples Lightning danced across the sky. The camera loves me. The moon seemed to smile at me from the sky. Trees were dancing with the wind. Opportunity knocked on the door. The flowers were really thirsty and drank all of the water.

Onomatopoeia The use of words that imitate sounds that they actually sound like. Examples: Buzz Murmur Hiss Roar Sizzle Bang

Idiom Examples: Break a leg Bring home the bacon Under the weather Raining cats and dogs Shape up or ship out Spill the beans A group of words that has a special meaning and does not match what it appears to say.