as in code word
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dead metaphor
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
This shift reminds us that dead metaphors aren’t always terminally dead.
—Rob Nixon, Smithsonian, 23 Mar. 2018
Nikhil Krishnan, The New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2022
This shift reminds us that dead metaphors aren’t always terminally dead.
—Rob Nixon, Smithsonian, 23 Mar. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dead metaphor
Noun
-
Here’s a handy decoder for the code words used by flight attendants.—
Forbes.com,
Forbes.com,
20 June 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
Noun
-
Children and grief: Stop using euphemisms about death Now, the former president, 82, faces his own cancer diagnosis.—
Savannah Kuchar,
USA Today,
21 May 2025
-
That means saying, without euphemism or apology, that antisemitism cloaked as anti-Zionism is still antisemitism.—
Brendan Reilly,
Chicago Tribune,
12 June 2025
Noun
-
The analogy was not lost on the musicians themselves.—
Rolling Stone,
Rolling Stone,
16 June 2025
-
So, now to come back to this analogy, in us our soma are different from our germline, right?—
Steven Strogatz,
Quanta Magazine,
12 June 2025
Noun
-
Formation flying is really a terrestrial metaphor to cover a painfully complex exercise in celestial mechanics.—
David Szondy
June 28,
New Atlas,
28 June 2025
-
But waste should be surgically addressed, extending the metaphor, with a scalpel, not a chainsaw.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
28 June 2025
Noun
-
What’s the difference between a simile and a metaphor?—
Vibhas Ratanjee,
Forbes.com,
30 May 2025
-
No metaphors or similes or hyperbolic language needed here – your kids are next.—
Rob Gagnon,
Hartford Courant,
25 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dead metaphor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dead%20metaphor. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share