analogy

noun anal·o·gy \ ə-ˈna-lə-jē \

|Updated on: 20 Aug 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: analogy in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Digging Into the Most Common Meaning of analogy

Definition of analogy

plural analogies

1 a : a comparison of two otherwise unlike things based on resemblance of a particular aspect

b : resemblance in some particulars between things otherwise unlike : similarity

2 : inference that if two or more things agree with one another in some respects they will probably agree in others

3 : correspondence between the members of pairs or sets of linguistic forms that serves as a basis for the creation of another form

4 : correspondence in function between anatomical parts of different structure and origin — compare homology

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Examples of analogy in a Sentence

He does, though, suffer from the occupational deformation of international relations specialists: an enthusiasm for ransacking the past in search of precedents, analogies, patterns, and cycles that might explain the present and forecast the future. —Tony Judt, New York Book Review, 10 Apr. 2003
People who do this call themselves "white-hat" hackers—good people who show other people their vulnerabilities. Take the following analogy: I've designed a great new lock pick, and I'm going to give this great new gadget away to show everyone that the typical door lock is ineffective against my new pick. —John C. Dvorak, PC Magazine, 4 Apr. 2000
It has often been said that movie stars are the royalty of America. (The better analogy, really, is that the royals are the movie stars of Britain.) —Neal Gabler, Life: The Movie, 1998
Parts of the far-infrared sky look like colonies of spiders gone mad. The fine structure seen there is called cirrus, by analogy with filamentary clouds on Earth. —Virginia Trimble et al., Sky & Telescope, January 1995

Recent Examples of analogy from the Web

But Zimmermann takes issue with the analogy—on ethical if not legal grounds.

— adam fisher, WIRED, "A Landmark Legal Shift Opens Pandora’s Box for DIY Guns," 10 July 2018
Nazi analogies almost never go over well, and Cordray could've made his point without such a reference.

— jason williams, Cincinnati.com, "PX column: Why did Richard Cordray link some Ohio Republicans to Nazi collaborators?," 25 June 2018
As an analogy, Vander Heiden looks to heart disease, in which risk is determined by multiple factors, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol levels.

— justin chen, STAT, "Muscle and fat loss may offer clues to pancreatic cancer’s deadly ways," 20 June 2018
Like other technology conceived for recondite purpose but found to have broad application, the air around the blockchain is thick with analogy and metaphor.

— stephen phillips, San Francisco Chronicle, "New tech books: ‘Conspiracy,’ ‘Broad Band,’ ‘The Truth Machine’," 1 June 2018
Between the two, something as elementary as campaign posters has become an analogy of infighting on the left.

— diana budds, Vox, "The brilliance of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s bold campaign design," 2 July 2018
Stimage, for example, used the color orange as an analogy for black identity in her work, an assemblage of orange objects like cheese puffs, scissors, and goldfish.

— daise bedolla, The Cut, "The Ultimate Instagram Exhibit Is Headed to New York City," 20 June 2018
An analogy could be made with diabetes in the late 1800s.

— paul a. offit, md, Philly.com, "Why are children with autism at higher risk for serious infections?," 2 Apr. 2018
To continue the food analogy, Fox remains ravenous in his pursuit of trade deals and has been traveling across the globe to drum up interest.

— james masters, CNN, "From 'titanic success' to 'Mad Max': How language around Brexit changed," 27 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'analogy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Digging Into the Most Common Meaning of analogy

In its most common use, analogy has to do with comparison of things based on those things being alike in some way. For example, one can make or draw an analogy between the seasons of the year and the stages of life. People also reason by way of analogy, asserting, for example, that abandoning a project is like leaving a house partway built. Although an analogy can be summarized quickly, as in these examples, an analogy actually encompasses the comparison or inference itself, and is therefore different from figures of speech, like metaphors and similes, which are forms of expression.

Some tests ask you to identify analogies, finding the second of a pair that has the same relationship as a completed pair. Analogy tests often look like this:

ice : cold :: steel : ____

a. hard b. loud c. fresh d. small

Because the relationship between ice and cold is that coldness is a quality of ice, the word that goes with steel is hard, since hardness is a quality of steel.

The word analogy (which comes from analogous) traces back by way of Latin to a Greek word meaning "proportionate." That word has a root in the Greek word logos, meaning "reason."

Origin and Etymology of analogy

see analogous

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 2

See Words from the same year

Synonym Discussion of analogy

likeness, similarity, resemblance, similitude, analogy mean agreement or correspondence in details. likeness implies a closer correspondence than similarity which often implies that things are merely somewhat alike.