as in dead metaphor
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Recent Examples of code word
In the 21st century, however, historians mistook the code word for a code name and gave the pretexts their unhistorical handle.
—
Ken Hughes, The Conversation, 24 Nov. 2025
Was there literally a code word?
—Benjamin Siegel, ABC News, 21 Oct. 2025
Greater Manchester Police had declared PLATO – a national code word used when police deploy armed officers across the force to the scene of an attack, CNN understands.
—Peter Wilkinson, CNN Money, 2 Oct. 2025
So, the vertices that are indexing positions of my code word.
—Quanta Magazine, 7 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for code word
Ken Hughes, The Conversation, 24 Nov. 2025
Was there literally a code word?
—Benjamin Siegel, ABC News, 21 Oct. 2025
Greater Manchester Police had declared PLATO – a national code word used when police deploy armed officers across the force to the scene of an attack, CNN understands.
—Peter Wilkinson, CNN Money, 2 Oct. 2025
So, the vertices that are indexing positions of my code word.
—Quanta Magazine, 7 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for code word
Recent Examples of Synonyms for code word
Noun
-
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
-
Jordan used an analogy to make the case that high-intensity fire is not uniform.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Mar. 2026
-
Some found the whole Jolene analogy more misleading than useful.—
Marie-Rose Sheinerman,
The Atlantic,
13 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
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
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Along with another allusion to his quip about Lucien’s death, that simile establishes the Anglo-Irish author as a terrifying counter-example of homosexual exposure.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
2 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Now there were no euphemisms for Germany’s leader.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 Feb. 2026
-
Early critics have called it ‘compassionate,’ which might sound like a euphemism for treacly or didactic.—
Savannah Salazar,
Vulture,
20 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Netflix’s refugee thriller His House and Jordan Peele’s Lovecraft Country showed early signs of her penchant for horror as a metaphor for racial oppression.—
Kemi Alemoru,
Glamour,
14 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
Noun
-
But in terms of its actual content, the statement was pretty thin gruel, bristling with public relations-style circumlocution and vagueness.—
Business Columnist,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Jan. 2026
-
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 21 Mar. 2026.
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