as in analogies
an elaborate or fanciful way of expressing something
"it's raining cats and dogs" is just a colorful metaphor and not a meteorological announcement
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Recent Examples of metaphors
Threads become metaphors for relationships—fragile yet resilient, personal yet interconnected.
—
Olga Garcia-Mayoral, Miami Herald, 31 Mar. 2026
His appetite for complexity was increasingly indulged as a means of branding cities and institutions, and his novel forms were deployed as blunt metaphors to absorb and obscure contradictions rather than negotiate them in material and spatial terms.
—Julian Rose, Artforum, 26 Mar. 2026
Sports metaphors are often used to talk about leadership, O’Neil says, but there’s something unique to boxing that hits home for these senior-level women who, according to McKinsey research, often lack mentorship, sponsorship and overall corporate support to thrive.
—Jennifer Liu, CNBC, 25 Mar. 2026
Such metaphors abounded in the trial.
—Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026
The use of Boïto’s Mefistofele in Batman Begins turns the film and the opera into metaphors for each other.
—Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 15 Mar. 2026
There are metaphors aplenty to interpret in a thriller about a town that goes bonkers when 17 kids go missing in the middle of the night and everybody points to their teacher (Julia Garner).
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 12 Mar. 2026
That really informed the story so much more than any other job, in terms of opening up the metaphors of film projection and damage inspection reports and how that might inform how Birdie kind of lives and thinks.
—Emma Specter, Vogue, 10 Mar. 2026
Salazar-Thompson’s witty script — packed with hilarious metaphors and similes (like comparing a woman’s firm grip on her purse to that of a two-toed sloth on a branch) — make for a consistently amusing trip back in time.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Mar. 2026
Olga Garcia-Mayoral, Miami Herald, 31 Mar. 2026
His appetite for complexity was increasingly indulged as a means of branding cities and institutions, and his novel forms were deployed as blunt metaphors to absorb and obscure contradictions rather than negotiate them in material and spatial terms.
—Julian Rose, Artforum, 26 Mar. 2026
Sports metaphors are often used to talk about leadership, O’Neil says, but there’s something unique to boxing that hits home for these senior-level women who, according to McKinsey research, often lack mentorship, sponsorship and overall corporate support to thrive.
—Jennifer Liu, CNBC, 25 Mar. 2026
Such metaphors abounded in the trial.
—Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026
The use of Boïto’s Mefistofele in Batman Begins turns the film and the opera into metaphors for each other.
—Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 15 Mar. 2026
There are metaphors aplenty to interpret in a thriller about a town that goes bonkers when 17 kids go missing in the middle of the night and everybody points to their teacher (Julia Garner).
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 12 Mar. 2026
That really informed the story so much more than any other job, in terms of opening up the metaphors of film projection and damage inspection reports and how that might inform how Birdie kind of lives and thinks.
—Emma Specter, Vogue, 10 Mar. 2026
Salazar-Thompson’s witty script — packed with hilarious metaphors and similes (like comparing a woman’s firm grip on her purse to that of a two-toed sloth on a branch) — make for a consistently amusing trip back in time.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for metaphors
Noun
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As Trump fumbles with the Pandora’s Box he’s broken open, there’s no shortage of historical analogies to choose from.—
Ishaan Tharoor,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
-
There are analogies to the suspense that a pregnant woman must feel.—
Caleb Crain,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Mar. 2026
Noun
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During the Apollo missions, astronauts used urine collection and transfer devices, as well as plastic bags taped to the buttocks to collect feces.—
ByMary Kekatos,
ABC News,
2 Apr. 2026
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Our bill will ban the federal government from buying and operating these devices made in countries that wish us harm.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
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In those earlier pictures, metaphysical conceits became visual and dramatic gambits as the filmmakers set out to colonize the vast interior worlds of, respectively, the mind and the spirit.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
6 Mar. 2026
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One of Yellow Letters’s most interesting conceits is that German cities play Turkish ones throughout.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
26 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Metaphors.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/metaphors. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
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