What Is A Word For Saying One Thing And Meaning Another?

The term most commonly used to describe saying one thing and meaning another is irony, in particular verbal irony. Verbal irony is defined as a disparity of expression and intention, i.e when a literal meaning is contrary to its intended effect or saying one thing and meaning another. An example of verbal irony is when a person says "Your coat is really lovely" but really they mean, often expressed in their tone, that is coat is not lovely at all. Verbal irony is quite similar to sarcasm, although sarcasm has a more obvious intention of the alternative meaning being shown.

Other, similar, types of irony defined by modern theories of rhetoric include dramatic irony and situational irony. Dramatic irony is the disparity of awareness that takes place between the actor and the observer. This occurs in plays or literature when the words or actions portrayed by the speaker have a significance that the audience is aware of but the speaker is not. For example, in a play a character may say to another 'See you tomorrow' but the audience knows, from the plotline , that in fact the character will die before then and that they will not see them tomorrow. The other type is situational irony. This considers the disparity of the intension and the result. This means that the result of an action is contrary to the expected or desired effect of it. A basic example of situational irony is when a person carries out an action to harm someone else but that person ends up getting harmed instead of or as well as. Within situational irony there is the concept of cosmic irony. This is the disparity between human desires and the harsh realities of the world.

While these are some definitions for saying one thing and meaning another, some would argue that they are not definitions of irony at all.

Sarcasm

Verbalization of thought transposition.

Usually you are thinking about both words and for some reason you say the incorrect one. This can indicate that you have over thought the situation. Too much editing by your brain is exhausting so try to figure out why you are over thinking. Fear in a controlled settings will do this. One where you precieve need to always be on your toes and feel you cannot relax but there is no immediate danger to life or limb.

Irony

Duplicitous

No, sorry, but you're all wrong. The term is oxymoron!!!  Look it up!

A figure of speech is a use of a word that diverges from its normal meaning such as a simile, metaphor or personification (en.wikipedia.org). When writing something , but meaning something else it is called Irony or ironic. An example of this is saying "let's be friends, but actually meaning lets break up and .go our separate ways. An oxymoron is a figure of speech with two contradictory terms, such as a wealthy pauper.