What Is an Oxymoron?

By jamie

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7. Silent Scream

Fans of horror or thriller books will likely be familiar with this term. It is often used to describe how a character would react to being faced with an immediate danger. They will go through the motions and emotions of a scream but make no audible sound, perhaps through shock or maybe through not wanting to draw attention to themselves.

A scream, however, is an audible (and often loud) sound, so it is not possible for a scream to be silent. Still, though, we tend to understand the meaning fully without the need to quibble over the semantics. “Screaming inside” is a similar usage, meaning the character is terrified or enraged inside while still maintaining a calm appearance externally.

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