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
The return of a popular crime series, a first story collection, Ojibwe memoir, and flesh-eating as metaphor for female outrage.
—
Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities, 7 Sep. 2025
Instead of turning the actual evils into metaphors.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 6 Sep. 2025
This absence — of God, of love, of plain community spirit — is a metaphor for the whole parish, where everyone is defined by their own lacks and deficiencies, the weaknesses that cause Wicks to despise them and vow to bring down them all.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 6 Sep. 2025
Instead, Lee turns it into a multipronged metaphor that communicates the difficulty of resisting repression, as well as Shinhye’s personal struggle to see her ideas, desires, and self clearly.
—Lily Meyer, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for metaphor
Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities, 7 Sep. 2025
Instead of turning the actual evils into metaphors.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 6 Sep. 2025
This absence — of God, of love, of plain community spirit — is a metaphor for the whole parish, where everyone is defined by their own lacks and deficiencies, the weaknesses that cause Wicks to despise them and vow to bring down them all.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 6 Sep. 2025
Instead, Lee turns it into a multipronged metaphor that communicates the difficulty of resisting repression, as well as Shinhye’s personal struggle to see her ideas, desires, and self clearly.
—Lily Meyer, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for metaphor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for metaphor
analogy
Noun
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The video of serene waves that swished behind the curved stage at the start of Dua Lipa’s concert slowly intensified until the tide became a surge, an appropriate analogy for the pop superstar’s arrival in the US for the first time in more than three years.—
Melissa Ruggieri,
USA Today,
6 Sep. 2025
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Simmons made an analogy of Jenkins at the wheels of FIU’s offense.—
Walter Villa,
Miami Herald,
4 Sep. 2025
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 Sep. 2025.
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