Outlines of communication where words are used non-literally for effect (7,2,6)
I believe the answer is:
figures of speech
'outlines' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'of communication where words are used non-literally for effect' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is located in the answer.
'communication' could be 'speech' (speech is a kind of communication) and 'speech' is located in the answer.
'effect' could be 'figure' (figure is a kind of effect) and 'figure' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for figures of speech that I've seen before include "statistics used by politician on the stump?" , "Phrases" , "Metaphors etc" .)