metaphor
[met-uh-fawr, -fer]
- 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).
- something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol.
Show More
Origin of metaphor
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for metaphorical
Contemporary Examples
The metaphorical closet door has been opened, proving just how rapidly the sport is growing and changing with the times.
I chose it for its metaphorical resonance, but the mosquito bite theory might be the worse.
Time passed, and periodically a scholarly blog would raise a metaphorical eyebrow about the lack of test results.
Inevitably, any anger and resentment we feel is contained within some kind of metaphorical exoskeleton.
Yet JFK, while physically frail and in pain, still had the metaphorical spine to drive his hawkish advisers up the wall.
Historical Examples
Like many gun names, the word "culverin" has a metaphorical meaning.
Artillery Through the AgesAlbert Manucy
"When you talk in that metaphorical style I fail to understand you," said Quentyns.
A Young MutineerMrs. L. T. Meade
Stabbing with the pen, therefore, is not merely a metaphorical expression.
Museum of AntiquityL. W. Yaggy
Descent and ascent when thus applied to the soul are metaphorical.
A History of Mediaeval Jewish PhilosophyIsaac Husik
And then you've got a house—not a metaphorical one, but a house with father and sisters.
The Longest JourneyE. M. Forster
metaphor
- 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 battleCompare simile
Show More
Word Origin
C16: from Latin, from Greek metaphora, from metapherein to transfer, from meta- + pherein to bear
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for metaphorical
metaphor
n.
late 15c., from Middle French metaphore (Old French metafore, 13c.), and directly from Latin metaphora, from Greek metaphora "a transfer," especially of the sense of one word to a different word, literally "a carrying over," from metapherein "transfer, carry over; change, alter; to use a word in a strange sense," from meta- "over, across" (see meta-) + pherein "to carry, bear" (see infer).
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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.)
Show More
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.