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metaphor
[ met-uh-fawr, -fer ]
noun
- a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God.” Compare mixed metaphor, simile ( def 1 ).
metaphor
/ -ˌfɔː; ˌmɛtəˈfɒrɪk; ˈmɛtəfə /
noun
- a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action that it does not literally denote in order to imply a resemblance, for example he is a lion in battle Compare simile
metaphor
- The comparison of one thing to another without the use of like or as : “A man is but a weak reed”; “The road was a ribbon of moonlight.” Metaphors are common in literature and expansive speech. ( Compare simile .)
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Derived Forms
- metaphoric, adjective
- ˌmetaˈphorically, adverb
- ˌmetaˈphoricalness, noun
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Other Words From
- met·a·phor·i·cal [met-, uh, -, fawr, -i-k, uh, l, -, for, -], met·a·phor·ic adjective
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of metaphor1
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Example Sentences
Once again he accused the West of being unfair to Russia, bringing back his favorite metaphor, the Russian bear.
The original metaphor was: erect a wall to keep the garden of the church free from the wilderness of politics.
The scene must be a metaphor for sex, because really who does any of this?
Lepore has a different, though still linear, metaphor for the history of feminism: “a river, wending.”
To wring all that can be wrung from metaphor, note what our elected and appointed officials are not dressed as.
Your correspondent Erica gives us some quotations and epitaphs, in which the metaphor of an Inn is applied both to life and death.
"To say that the brute has awakened in a man is not a mere metaphor always," he went on presently.
The musician not showing any visible appreciation of the managers metaphor, Perkins immediately proceeded to uncock his eye.
By a noble metaphor, says Milman, the day of their death was considered that of their birth to immortality.
To carry out your metaphor of the tree, the graft cut from the parent stock must bear fruit for itself.
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