as in dead metaphor
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Recent Examples of code word
Use code words or verification phrases known only to the parties involved.
—
Brian Greenberg, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
So, the vertices that are indexing positions of my code word.
—Quanta Magazine, 7 Aug. 2025
The two decide to remedy that by packing four years' worth of adventure into one extremely chaotic, hilarious night, hyping each other up with compliments and providing unconditional support whenever one of them says their code word: Malala.
—Sophie Dodd, People.com, 9 July 2025
The animation in the video draws one’s consciousness in like a vortex, and the three sweets that make up the name are suggestive of some sort of code word.
—Billboard Japan, Billboard, 16 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for code word
Brian Greenberg, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
So, the vertices that are indexing positions of my code word.
—Quanta Magazine, 7 Aug. 2025
The two decide to remedy that by packing four years' worth of adventure into one extremely chaotic, hilarious night, hyping each other up with compliments and providing unconditional support whenever one of them says their code word: Malala.
—Sophie Dodd, People.com, 9 July 2025
The animation in the video draws one’s consciousness in like a vortex, and the three sweets that make up the name are suggestive of some sort of code word.
—Billboard Japan, Billboard, 16 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for code word
Recent Examples of Synonyms for code word
Noun
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Many of our emotion terms are references to states of the body—we’re downcast, bent out of shape, head over heels, shaken up, down in the mouth—which have slowly rigidified into dead metaphor.—
Nikhil Krishnan,
The New Yorker,
1 Aug. 2022
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This shift reminds us that dead metaphors aren’t always terminally dead.—
Rob Nixon,
Smithsonian,
23 Mar. 2018
Noun
-
In that analogy, Freeman already was the Stafford of this search.—
Pat Leonard,
New York Daily News,
7 Jan. 2026
-
The coincidence has invited an avalanche of historical analogies.—
Cristina Guevara,
Chicago Tribune,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Consider, for instance, the use of rhetorical figures such as metaphor or simile.—
Nino Letteriello,
Forbes.com,
22 Aug. 2025
-
Want to read whole stanzas, even poems, constructed simile by simile?—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
2 June 2025
Noun
-
In a year of cancellations and euphemisms, the city mounted a counterprogram that was quietly insurrectionary, stubbornly joyous.—
The Editors,
Curbed,
15 Dec. 2025
-
Opinions were filtered through euphemism.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
24 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
This concept is brought to life by the characters’ perilous physical and psychological journey, constantly suspended between destruction and renewal, reality and metaphor.—
Robert Lang,
Deadline,
7 Jan. 2026
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With relentless howling wind making up much of the soundtrack, The Turin Horse was a chilling, enigmatic stunner that played like a metaphor for the apocalypse.—
Tim Grierson,
Rolling Stone,
6 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Their circumlocutions were as entrancing as their ability to find the most precisely ironic words for difficult-to-name realities.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
8 July 2025
-
Here, instead, she’s swayed by a dead Diana softly squeezing her hand and kindly hinting — the dead Diana is an ace at tactful circumlocution — that now is the time to show a mourning nation some emotion.—
Tom Gliatto,
Peoplemag,
16 Nov. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Code word.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/code%20word. Accessed 10 Jan. 2026.
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