as in analogy
an elaborate or fanciful way of expressing something
"it's raining cats and dogs" is just a colorful metaphor and not a meteorological announcement
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Recent Examples of metaphor
Though the rope suggests tidy metaphors of unity, coherence, and formal integrity, a playful but insistent messiness effloresces in Simms’s entanglements, throwing any seeming wholeness into question.
—
Richard Brody, New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2026
Just as slowly, the domestic thriller has become the defining metaphor of our time.
—Judy Berman, Time, 30 Jan. 2026
This particularly applies to an opening visual metaphor, in which an old veteran is haunted by a vision of his past, which proves more excessive and obvious than enlightening.
—Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 29 Jan. 2026
His dialogue is often a flurry of images, overarticulate people spinning through one metaphor and onto the next.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 29 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for metaphor
Richard Brody, New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2026
Just as slowly, the domestic thriller has become the defining metaphor of our time.
—Judy Berman, Time, 30 Jan. 2026
This particularly applies to an opening visual metaphor, in which an old veteran is haunted by a vision of his past, which proves more excessive and obvious than enlightening.
—Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 29 Jan. 2026
His dialogue is often a flurry of images, overarticulate people spinning through one metaphor and onto the next.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 29 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for metaphor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for metaphor
analogy
Noun
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Baseball has a lot of good analogies for fatherhood, even if most of them break down rather quickly.—
Caleb Harris,
Austin American Statesman,
4 Feb. 2026
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That’s the American analogy, where the traditional governing elite of one of the great parties of much of the country committed itself to something not just in the defense of slavery, but to slavery-plus, fortified and amplified by treason.—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
28 Jan. 2026
Video
When Body Parts Are Also Verbs
Head, shoulders, metaphors, and toes
Cite this Entry
“Metaphor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/metaphor. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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