allegorical

adjective

al·​le·​gor·​i·​cal ˌa-lə-ˈgȯr-i-kəl 

-ˈgär-

1

: of, relating to, or having the characteristics of allegory

allegorical paintings

allegorical meanings of images

allegorical symbols of our culture

2

: having hidden spiritual meaning that transcends the literal sense of a sacred text

allegorically

ˌa-lə-ˈgȯr-i-k(ə-)lē 

-ˈgär-

adverb

allegoricalness

ˌa-lə-ˈgȯr-i-kəl-nəs 

-ˈgär-

noun

Examples of allegorical in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the old allegorical star books, the goddess holds some spikes of wheat in each hand and her brightest star — Spica — glows in one of the ears of grain hanging from her left hand. —Joe Rao, Space.com, 15 May 2026

The story serves as allegorical exploration of mental health, focusing on depression, suicide and regret. —Alex Ritman, Variety, 11 May 2026

This includes an extended corporate war arc, and metaphor for dopamine consumption, that bloats the length while draining allegorical clarity. —Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 30 Apr. 2026

Meis moves from the Baroque virtuosity of Rubens’s study of a drunken mythological figure, through the jagged modernist puzzle of Marc’s allegorical animals, to Mitchell’s painterly abstractions and their flickering landscape allusions. —Jed Perl, The New York Review of Books, 4 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

allegoric "allegorical" (borrowed from Late Latin allēgoricus, borrowed from Greek allēgorikós, from allēgoría allegory + -ikos -ic entry 1) + -al entry 1

First Known Use

1528, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for allegorical

• ahistorical
• metaphorical
• oratorical
• unhistorical
• historical
• rhetorical
• sociohistorical