analogy

noun

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anal·o·gy | \ ə-ˈna-lə-jē

plural analogies

Definition of analogy

1a : 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 evolutionary biology : correspondence or similarity in form or function between parts (such as the wings of birds and insects) of unrelated or distantly related species that is the result of convergent evolution — compare homology, homoplasy

Choose the Right Synonym Digging Into the Most Common Meaning of Analogy Example Sentences Phrases Containing analogy Learn More About analogy

Choose the Right Synonym for 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. a remarkable likeness to his late father some similarity between the two cases resemblance implies similarity chiefly in appearance or external qualities. statements that bear little resemblance to the truth similitude applies chiefly to correspondence between abstractions. two schools of social thought showing points of similitude analogy implies likeness or parallelism in relations rather than in appearance or qualities. pointed out analogies to past wars

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."

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 on the Web But the senator’s analogy sparked outrage on social media, where a clip of Daines’s speech from C-SPAN had nearly 1 million views by Wednesday morning. — Washington Post, 10 May 2022 Judges and lawyers reason by analogy and precedent. — Annette Gordon-reed, The New York Review of Books, 9 May 2022 Toward this end, the book explains the important difference between analogy and homology. — David P. Barash, WSJ, 6 May 2022 Fortunately, there’s a sports analogy that can help: Hand off the ball to your best player. — Chris Bibey, Forbes, 5 May 2022 The sun offers a material analogy for the very form of the Good—a goodness beyond the realm of sense, time, or space. — Suzannah Showler, Harper’s Magazine , 27 Apr. 2022 To keep this college-basketball analogy going, Keen is like the Gonzaga of this bracket. — Jeremy Rellosa, Outside Online, 26 Apr. 2022 Going back to the brick wall analogy, people whose bodies don’t manufacture enough filaggrin will be more vulnerable to immune system invaders and less protected by their skin. — Kathryn Watson, SELF, 14 Apr. 2022 There are also important details that make the Ukraine-Finland analogy flawed. — Jan Smoleński, The New Republic, 22 Mar. 2022 See More

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.

History and Etymology for analogy

Middle English analogie, borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French, borrowed from Latin analogia "ratio, proportion, correspondence in the inflection and derivation of words, the use of this correspondence in word derivation," borrowed from Greek analogía "proportion, relation, correspondence in the inflection and derivation of words," from análogos "proportionate, conformable, analogous" + -ia -y entry 2