metaphorical
adjective
involving, invoking, or intended to be taken as a metaphor, something used symbolically to represent something else, suggesting a comparison or resemblance.
metaphoric
-
a variation of
metaphorical.
-
a word derived from
metaphor.
metaphornouna 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.”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Klee was a metaphoric artist who consistently combined universal themes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
That movie opens ever outward in its metaphoric power, becoming an enthralling, defining vision of its era of media, and the new “Faces of Death” initially seems to have similar ambitions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
And so it's really nice that people like you notice that sense of us as cloud makers, the little metaphoric embeddings of that pattern.
From Salon ● May 28, 2025
“I really wanted to have it be woven into the story in a very metaphoric way, where how these characters play tennis, their technique, tells you who they are.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2025
This begat a tradition of colorful but useless metaphoric descriptions that preoccupied physicians for centuries.
From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro
