metaphor

American  

[met-uh-fawr, -fer] / ˈmɛt əˌfɔr, -fər /

noun

1. 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.”

2. something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol.

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metaphor British  

/ -ˌfɔː, ˌmɛtəˈfɒrɪk, ˈmɛtəfə /

noun

1. 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

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metaphor Cultural  

1. 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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Other Word Forms

• metaphoric adjective
• metaphorical adjective
• metaphorically adverb
• metaphoricalness noun

Etymology

Origin of metaphor

First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin metaphora, from Greek metaphorá “a transfer,” akin to metaphérein “to transfer”; meta-, -phore

Compare meaning

How does metaphor compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• allegory vs. metaphor

Example Sentences

The name is not a figure of speech or a metaphor.

From Salon

Myth and metaphor still abound, but they’re more rooted in the everyday reality of a troubled parcel of the country.

From Los Angeles Times

They fermented inside him till they emerged as poetic images and metaphors—“nature, red in tooth and claw.”

From The Wall Street Journal

But stasis doesn’t make for much of a climax, and as the couple wait in the snowbound airport, the setting also functions as a metaphor for the film as a whole.

From The Wall Street Journal

The “glitterball” of the title, the fixture of nightclub life for decades, was created in Louisville, or so the series claims, and serves as a convoluted metaphor for that Kentucky city.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• analogy
• image
• symbol