metaphor

noun

met·​a·​phor ˈme-tə-ˌfȯr 

 also  -fər

1

: a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them (as in swimming in paperwork)

I remember … my first experience of making a metaphor, and I … went inside and wrote it down: the cracked earth is a map.

—Mary Ruefle

One of my writing techniques has always been to employ metaphors to explain complex issues.

—Thomas L. Friedman

broadly : figurative language

Poetry can do a lot more than just show off a savvy use of metaphor or a clever new form.

—Ashley M. Jones

Note: Do not confuse metaphor with simile. Metaphor makes a comparison by equating one thing with another (as in "life is a journey"), or by creating an identification or fusion between two things (as in "burning desire"), while simile states that something is similar to another thing. Similes often use like or as (as in "fresh as dawn" or "shining like a star") but do not require it, as Shakespeare's "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" demonstrates.

2

: an object, activity, or idea treated as a metaphor : symbol sense 2

The author uses flight as a metaphor for freedom.

metaphoric

ˌme-tə-ˈfȯr-ik 

-ˈfär-

adjective

or metaphorical

ˌme-tə-ˈfȯr-i-kəl 

-ˈfär-

Much of everyday language is metaphorical in origin, though the origins are often forgotten, or unknown.

—M. A. K. Halliday

Did you know?

What is metaphor?

"You're a peach!" We've all heard the expression, and it's a good example of what we call metaphor. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase denoting one kind of object or action is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them: the person being addressed in "you're a peach" is being equated with a peach, with the suggestion being that the person is pleasing or delightful in the way that a peach is pleasing and delightful. A metaphor is an implied comparison, as in "the silk of the singer's voice." This is in contrast to the explicit comparison of the simile, which uses like or as, as in "a voice smooth like silk."

When we use metaphor, we make a leap beyond rational, ho-hum comparison to an identification or fusion of two objects, resulting in a new entity that has characteristics of both: the voice isn't like silk; it is silk. Many critics regard the making of metaphors as a system of thought antedating or bypassing logic. Metaphor is the fundamental language of poetry, although it is common on all levels and in all kinds of language.

Lots of common words we use every day were originally vivid images, although they exist now as dead metaphors whose original aptness has been lost. The word daisy, for example, comes from an Old English word meaning "day's eye." The ray-like appearance of the daisy, which opens and closes with the sun, is reminiscent of an eye that opens in the morning and closes at night. The expression time flies is also metaphorical, with time being identified with a bird.

In poetry a metaphor may perform varied functions, from noting simple similarity between things to evoking a broad set of associations; it may exist as a minor element, or it may be the central concept and controlling image of the poem. The metaphor of an iron horse for a train, for example, is the elaborate central concept of one of Emily Dickinson's poems—though neither iron horse nor train appears in the poem, the first and final stanzas of which are:

I like to see it lap the Miles—

And lick the Valleys up—

And stop to feed itself at Tanks—

And then—prodigious step

…

And neigh like Boanerges—

Then—prompter than a Star

Stop—docile and omnipotent

At it's own stable door—

A mixed metaphor is the linking of two or more elements that don't go together logically. It happens when the writer or speaker isn't being sensitive to the literal meaning of the words or to the falseness of the comparison being used. A mixed metaphor is often two metaphors sloppily mashed together as in, "the ball is in the court of public opinion," which joins "the ball is in your court" to "the court of public opinion."

A mixed metaphor may also be used with great effectiveness, however, as in Hamlet's speech:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

For strictly correct completion of the metaphor, sea should be replaced by a word like host. By using "sea of troubles," however, Shakespeare evokes the overwhelming nature of Hamlet's troubles.

Synonyms of metaphor

• analogy
• figure of speech

Examples of metaphor in a Sentence

You see, menudo is our chicken soup for the body and soul, our metaphor for bread-and-butter issues. —Joe Rodriguez, San Jose Mercury News, 20 May 2003

The hapless Humpty Dumpty often crops up as a metaphor for the second law of thermodynamics. —Charles Day, Physics Today, December 2002

Ben Strong, senior, football player, leader of the prayer group, the boy whose very name is a metaphor, has been besieged by the media for interviews. —Jayne Anne Phillips, Harper's, November 1998

The number of songs containing ambiguous metaphors and intriguing but obscure symbolism could be extended indefinitely. Still,  … there are hollers, work songs, field songs, and blues whose meaning is really not subject to a great deal of interpretation. —Lawrence W. Levine, "The Concept of the New Negro," 1971, in The Unpredictable Past,  1993

“He was drowning in paperwork” is a metaphor in which having to deal with a lot of paperwork is being compared to drowning in an ocean of water.

Her poems include many imaginative metaphors.

a poet admired for her use of metaphor

Recent Examples on the Web

For the monks or clerics, it is presented as a material substance, carried like a sack of gold on the demon’s back; the metaphors used are monetary or economic, as though the monks owe ordered syllables to God instead of the monetary tithe their vows of poverty render unnecessary. —JSTOR Daily, 31 Oct. 2025

But the visual metaphor resonates across the album at large. —Jacqui Palumbo, CNN Money, 30 Oct. 2025

The eyesore property has become a visible metaphor for the city’s retail challenges and general setbacks plaguing the Green Line, the Midway and the once-promising University Avenue business corridor. —Frederick Melo, Twin Cities, 29 Oct. 2025

The metaphors of two competitive tennis players vying for the love of a third are not buried especially deep in this film, but no one came here looking for Tolstoy. —John Ortved, Vogue, 29 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English methaphor, from Middle French or Latin; Middle French metaphore, from Latin metaphora, from Greek, from metapherein to transfer, from meta- + pherein to bear — more at bear

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing metaphor

• dead metaphor
• mixed metaphor

Video

When Body Parts Are Also Verbs

Head, shoulders, metaphors, and toes

Kids Definition

metaphor

noun

met·​a·​phor ˈmet-ə-ˌfȯ(ə)r 

 also  -fər

: a figure of speech in which a word or phrase meaning one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a similarity between them (as in the ship plows the sea) compare simile

metaphoric

ˌmet-ə-ˈfȯr-ik 

-ˈfär-

adjective

or metaphorical

ˌmet-ə-ˈfȯr-i-kəl 

-ˈfär-

metaphorically

-i-k(ə-)lē 

adverb