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
-
For an analogy, look back on the introduction of search engines, which led to a massive cut in the time needed to do research and get answers.—
Peter Cappelli,
Fortune,
28 Feb. 2026
-
Arteta has used the analogy that the positional grouping of injuries is like ‘buying tickets’ for more fitness problems down the line, an image that has proven to be apt across almost every area of his squad.—
Art de Roché,
New York Times,
28 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
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
-
Consider, for instance, the use of rhetorical figures such as metaphor or simile.—
Nino Letteriello,
Forbes.com,
22 Aug. 2025
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
-
Privacy and authenticity are valuable assets for any artist to maintain, but Styles has never been a master of crafting a specific image, let alone a lyric that possesses a kind of crystal-clear metaphor or emotion.—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2026
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The Salesman was a story about a woman attacked as a metaphor for a blindsided country, the director brilliantly re-appropriating the ultimate American drama Death of a Salesman to make the point.—
Steven Zeitchik,
HollywoodReporter,
5 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 10 Mar. 2026.
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