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
Both plays are loopy extended metaphors, turning a funhouse mirror on the mundanities of everyday existential struggle.
—
Sara Holdren, Vulture, 14 June 2026
Pinney’s fantasies and visual metaphors are sometimes more poignant in concept than in execution, and a theme of Ray’s crude racist impulses is baldly inserted but left undeveloped.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 12 June 2026
Multiple listens allow Nastasia’s metaphors and observations to float over the excellent musical arrangements.
—David Harris, SPIN, 11 June 2026
Animals serve as allies, guides, objects of cruelty and aggression, and as striking metaphors for power, imperialism, and insurrection.
—Literary Hub, 9 June 2026
Arnold uses different metaphors to describe his feelings about what lies between him and brother.
—Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2026
The songs are representative of teams via lyrics, metaphors and just overall vibes.
—Tamerra Griffin, New York Times, 2 June 2026
And metaphors have great life and longevity.
—Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 31 May 2026
The baseball metaphors kept coming.
—John Werner, Forbes.com, 15 May 2026
Sara Holdren, Vulture, 14 June 2026
Pinney’s fantasies and visual metaphors are sometimes more poignant in concept than in execution, and a theme of Ray’s crude racist impulses is baldly inserted but left undeveloped.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 12 June 2026
Multiple listens allow Nastasia’s metaphors and observations to float over the excellent musical arrangements.
—David Harris, SPIN, 11 June 2026
Animals serve as allies, guides, objects of cruelty and aggression, and as striking metaphors for power, imperialism, and insurrection.
—Literary Hub, 9 June 2026
Arnold uses different metaphors to describe his feelings about what lies between him and brother.
—Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2026
The songs are representative of teams via lyrics, metaphors and just overall vibes.
—Tamerra Griffin, New York Times, 2 June 2026
And metaphors have great life and longevity.
—Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 31 May 2026
The baseball metaphors kept coming.
—John Werner, Forbes.com, 15 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for metaphors
Noun
-
These analogies can also apply to the teams involved.—
Chris Branch,
New York Times,
16 June 2026
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But upcoming listings from SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI are big enough and systemically important enough to the market that those analogies may not apply.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
9 June 2026
Noun
-
The Big Think website has been optimized to work with all major browsers and devices.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
18 June 2026
-
Numerous guests were reportedly secured in harnesses and fall protection and then transitioned onto aerial devices.—
Colson Thayer,
PEOPLE,
18 June 2026
Noun
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This might actually be the first Yoshi platformer to not fully embrace a unique arts-and-crafts aesthetic in quite some time, considering how much Yoshi's Crafted World and Yoshi's Woolly World leaned fully into their papercraft and yarn conceits, respectively.—
Will Greenwald,
PC Magazine,
19 May 2026
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Canet has to do some gymnastics to sell several of his conceits, and a few reveals land with the thud of too-easy convenience.—
Richard Lawson,
HollywoodReporter,
15 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Metaphors.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/metaphors. Accessed 25 Jun. 2026.
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