How to Use simile in a Sentence

simile

noun
  • What do you think of the author's use of simile?
  • Yet the simile, lodged in my brain, became a sort of prophecy.
    Meghan Davis Mercer, Orange County Register, 5 June 2017
  • Cameras can’t probe psyches or create similes in the same way.
    Deborah Cohen, The Atlantic, 19 Feb. 2014
  • The Harry Potter series is often the choice for simile for many my age or younger.
    Luther Ray Abel, National Review, 17 Sep. 2020
  • Basketball is probably the best simile with all the back and forth, fouls, shots taken, missed and hit.
    Chris Stirewalt, Fox News, 4 Apr. 2018
  • But despite your choice of simile, there’s no question that the cicada is a bizarre-looking beast.
    Paul Cappiello, The Courier-Journal, 14 May 2021
  • One image follows another, as if there were always the need for a richer simile.
    Alejandro Chacoff, The New Yorker, 21 Jan. 2017
  • There are no similes in his work, no flights of lyricism or fancy writing, no hints of a deeper meaning beyond the moment.
    Charles McGrath, The New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2016
  • All of them feature jaw-dropping similes and truly original boasts.
    Esquire, 26 June 2007
  • That was one of many sayings that kind of puzzled me in childhood, even when a picture accompanied the simile or comparison.
    Maria Shine Stewart, cleveland.com, 2 Mar. 2018
  • VanDerveer used the simile of ducks, outwardly graceful but paddling like mad under the surface.
    John Branch, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2016
  • Social media was not full of snarky similes and comparisons to cartoon characters.
    Vanessa Friedman, New York Times, 8 Jan. 2018
  • Her class dissects song lyrics from Bruno Mars to detect and decipher hyperboles and similes.
    Jonece Starr Dunigan, AL.com, 27 Apr. 2018
  • No surprise to hear an Irish lilt and discover an unabashed delight in metaphor—paragraphs without a simile or three are a rarity.
    Adam Begley, The Atlantic, 28 Feb. 2023
  • In a brilliant short essay, Lydia Kiesling solves this problem by piling up metaphors and similes.
    Sam Anderson, New York Times, 25 May 2018
  • Yeah, that's probably a mixed metaphor, or actually a simile.
    Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 21 Jan. 2011
  • This simile has now extended to a discussion of their physicality and defense.
    Phil Davis, baltimoresun.com, 25 Nov. 2019
  • Scott’s prose can be subtle to the point of invisible — a reader won’t gasp at recognition or smile at very many unexpected similes.
    Alice Gregory, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2017
  • The tall, straight slide that used to sit in the big children’s section of American Playground in Brooklyn inspired many similes.
    Vivian Wang, New York Times, 9 June 2017
  • Flush with metaphor and simile, the narrative often waxes poetic, despite the true-to-life subject matter.
    Heather Grevatt, idahostatesman, 2 June 2017
  • In apparent homage to this simile, the parade’s delivery drivers wore yellow and black hats topped with bee antennae, like heroes in a children’s book.
    The Economist, 3 Oct. 2019
  • Stoppard’s libretto is poetic but linear, full of juicy similes and winding sentences.
    Zoë Madonna, BostonGlobe.com, 25 July 2019
  • Throughout the markup, there has been a long list of clichés, similes, metaphors and allusions — some good, some not so good — as lawmakers trudge ahead with a marathon debate on the two articles of impeachment.
    NBC News, 13 Dec. 2019
  • There's a common simile, metaphor, Sandy, about the difficulty of turning an aircraft carrier.
    CBS News, 1 Sep. 2021
  • An effective simile must feel appropriate to the situation.
    Gary Gilson, Star Tribune, 29 Aug. 2020
  • She occasionally gets lost in a labored or shopworn simile (mushrooms like penises, excitement in the gut like butterflies).
    Makana Eyre, Washington Post, 9 Jan. 2023
  • Horace goes off on tangents, extends similes beyond their relevance, circles back to topics already covered.
    Gregory Hays, The New York Review of Books, 27 May 2020
  • Moving into the second half of Sheeran's contributions, the talented artist reflects on his pain implementing a simile comparing the tears running down his face to that of a river.
    Michael Saponara, Billboard, 18 Dec. 2017
  • As a piano evokes the sound of Sunday morning gospel services, Real Thing compares the values of fine whiskey and honest love, making the simile feel not at all improbable.
    Bob Doerschuk, USA TODAY, 8 May 2017
  • That cetaceous simile deliberately mirrors Clute’s own baroque style and might also be the best description of his critical persona that anyone has ever given.
    Michael Dirda, Washington Post, 10 Nov. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'simile.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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