metaphor

[met-uh-fawr, -fer]

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.

metaphor

/ -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

metaphor

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.)

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of metaphor¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of metaphor¹

C16: from Latin, from Greek metaphora, from metapherein to transfer, from _meta- + pherein to bear

Example Sentences

While Lamar’s performance indeed touched a political third rail by embracing pro-Black imagery and metaphors, the Compton, California, native was demonstrably most in his zone when basking in coy slights to his rap nemesis, Drake.

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That the presentation is likely to fall apart is the kind of metaphor at which Ms. Cahn and her writers are adept.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

This was an election rally taking place in the San Martín area of the Argentine capital a month before the presidential election - and the metaphor was explicit.

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The settings—generic spaces such as cafés, train stations, hotel lobbies, and offices—tend to be described with similar brevity, while the detectives’ actions are recounted in prose generally lacking metaphor, simile, or fanciful digression.

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They might serve as a metaphor for highways, or neural networks indicating the reach of human imagination.

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Related Words

• analogy 
• image 
• symbol