metaphorical

American  

[met-uh-fawr-i-kuhl, -for-] / ˌmɛt əˈfɔr ɪ kəl, -ˈfɒr- /

Also metaphoric

adjective

1. involving, invoking, or intended to be taken as a metaphor, something used symbolically to represent something else, suggesting a comparison or resemblance.

   Our foreign policy blunder has given the insurgents a metaphorical green light to engage in violent tactics in pursuit of their imperial ambitions.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• semimetaphorical
  adjective
• metaphorically
  adverb
• submetaphoric
  adjective
• semimetaphoric
  adjective
• metaphoricalness
  noun
• nonmetaphorical
  adjective
• hypermetaphoric
  adjective
• hypermetaphorical
  adjective
• submetaphorical
  adjective
• nonmetaphoric
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of metaphorical

First recorded in 1560–70; metaphor ( def. ) + -ical ( def. )

Explanation

Something is metaphorical when you use it to stand for, or symbolize, another thing. For example, a dark sky in a poem might be a metaphorical representation of sadness. You'll find yourself using the adjective metaphorical all the time if you take a poetry class; poems are usually full of metaphors. People use metaphorical language in everyday speech too, like when you say something like, "My brain is foggy today." Metaphorical comes from the Greek word meaning "a transfer," metaphora, which is itself made up of meta, "over," and pherein, "to carry."

Example Sentences

Metaphorical punches were being swung both left and right within PEN, and in the pages of the New York Times and Washington Post.

From BBC • May 8, 2015

The measure of Mr. Asquith's shame does not consist in the mere fact that he has announced his intention to … Metaphorical measuring, like literal, requires a more accommodating instrument than a stubborn fact.

From Society for Pure English, Tract 11 Three Articles on Metaphor by Society for Pure English

Metaphorical writers are fond of saying that the successful ride to success on the back of the failures.

From Prose Fancies (Second Series) by Le Gallienne, Richard

Metaphorical phrases were common, such as war-adder for arrow, war-shirts for armour, whale’s-path or swan-road for the sea, wave-horse for a ship, tree-wright for carpenter.

From A Brief History of the English Language and Literature, Vol. 2 by Meiklejohn, John Miller Dow

Mystics, Abuse of allegory, by, 225; Belief of, 227; Metaphorical style of, 224.

From Essay on the Creative Imagination by Baron, Albert Heyem Nachmen

Related Words

• allegorical
• descriptive
• metaphoric
• symbolic