The main idea behind this paper is that some tropes like paradox, oxymoron, euphemisms, overstatement, understatement, dysphemism and irony can in fact be analysed as idealised cognitive models (ICMs), i.e. cognitive structure which depict reality from a certain perspective, thus resulting in a process of idealisation of reality. The present proposal draws on Ruiz de Mendoza and Díez (2002) who claim that an ICM can be the direct consequence of the activity of one or more mental operations. With this premise in mind, the author provides the reader with a redefinition of these tropes or models (i.e. irony, paradox, oxymoron, etc.) on the basis of a taxonomy of cognitive operations, namely, ‘revision’, ‘integration and accommodation’, ‘strengthening’ and ‘mitigation’. Additionally, this approach displays the above-mentioned tropes in relation with one another along a continuum in an attempt to show how they interact.