metaphors

plural of metaphor
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

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 metaphors Perhaps that’s all also meant to be further visual metaphors. Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 17 July 2026 Relying on clever visual metaphors about its dimensions, Samsung all but confessed that a wider Fold is on the horizon. Kimberly Gedeon, PC Magazine, 17 July 2026 Herman Melville, no stranger to the sea and its metaphors, was busy writing. Steven Johnson, Washington Post, 14 July 2026 As mental shortcuts, or heuristic devices, metaphors are common in political communication. David Rooney, The Conversation, 10 July 2026 When considering the concept of instruments as metaphors, Hart was on TC’s side of the argument. Sabrina Reed, Forbes.com, 6 July 2026 Gyllenhaal’s movie took heat for wanting to be too many things at once, but this is one of The Bell Jar’s central metaphors. Literary Hub, 1 July 2026 The face’s centrality to social life is inscribed in our language, in the metaphors that betray our world view. Cal Revely-Calder, New Yorker, 29 June 2026 Pardon me for sounding like the Grinch, to mix my cartoon metaphors, but if a film critic doesn’t take the Toy Story series seriously, who will? Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 27 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for metaphors
Noun
  • Palani, who started at Tesla when the company was making just one, fully electric vehicle per day, sees analogies to the years when Tesla started mass-manufacturing its entry level Model 3 sedans.
    Lora Kolodny, CNBC, 14 July 2026
  • Use analogies, avoid jargon and check my understanding by asking me a question at the end.
    Aytekin Tank, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026
Noun
  • Sassa hopes the project will eventually yield advanced devices that can — much like living organisms — self-assemble, adapt to their surroundings, and autonomously repair themselves.
    Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 20 July 2026
  • The sheriff urged the public to have safety devices like life vests on hand when gathering near bodies of water.
    Louis Casiano, FOXNews.com, 20 July 2026
Noun
  • 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
  • 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

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Metaphors.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/metaphors. Accessed 23 Jul. 2026.

More from Merriam-Webster on metaphors

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster