What's the difference between figure of speech and figurative language?

Question

What's the difference between figure of speech and figurative language?

Answer 1

figurative language:

Figurative language or speech contains images. The writer or speaker describes something through the use of unusual comparisons, for effect, interest, and to make things clearer. The result of using this technique is the creation of interesting images.

Figurative language is not intended to be interpreted in a literal sense. Appealing to the imagination, figurative language provides new ways of looking at the world. It always makes use of a comparison between different things. Figurative language compares two things that are different in enough ways so that their similarities, when pointed out, are interesting, unique and/or surprising.

figure of speech:

A figure of speech, sometimes termed a rhetoric, or locution, is a word or phrase that departs from straightforward, literal language. Figures of speech are often used and crafted for emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity. However, clarity may also suffer from their use. Note that all theories of meaning necessarily have a concept of "literal language

Answer 2

Figurative language is the use of multiple types of language, including "figures of speech," to make language more colorful and descriptive. These include idioms, metaphors, similes, proverbs, etc. The term "figurative language" includes an adjective and a noun. Example: "Her eyes sparkled like diamonds."

A "figure of speech" is a type of figurative language. The term "figure of speech" is a noun. Usually this is an expression that is intended to mean something different from its literal definition. The meaning is interpreted by the context that surrounds the phrase. Many of these are dialectical, meaning that they are common to a certain geographical area. Example: "He really gets under my skin."

These two terms are often used interchangeably.