as in metaphor
grammar
a phrase that uses the words like or as to describe someone or something by comparing it with someone or something else that is similar
"She's as fierce as a tiger" is a simile, but "She's a tiger when she's angry" is a metaphor.
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Recent Examples of simile
Her father was a scientist and worked for NASA, so her work, including The Body’s Question and Life on Mars, is infused with the cosmos and space and all these metaphors and similes tied to the most mysterious places in the universe.
—
Lisa Wong MacAbasco, Vogue, 22 Feb. 2025
Fight analyst Dan Hardy used an interesting simile to explain the key difference between the two title fighters in Saturday night's main event at UFC 312 as middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis puts his title on the line against former champion Sean Strickland.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 5 Feb. 2025
This is what Thadeus loves: a test of his store of poetic similes, even if, these days, his poetry-writing is notional.
—Han Ong, The New Yorker, 12 Jan. 2025
The simile is novel and yet the sort of thing a young woman would think; there is assonance and consonance seesawing across the sentence, which is slow and gorgeous rather than quick and thrilling.
—Joanna Biggs, Harper's Magazine, 2 Feb. 2024
See All Example Sentences for simile
Lisa Wong MacAbasco, Vogue, 22 Feb. 2025
Fight analyst Dan Hardy used an interesting simile to explain the key difference between the two title fighters in Saturday night's main event at UFC 312 as middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis puts his title on the line against former champion Sean Strickland.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 5 Feb. 2025
This is what Thadeus loves: a test of his store of poetic similes, even if, these days, his poetry-writing is notional.
—Han Ong, The New Yorker, 12 Jan. 2025
The simile is novel and yet the sort of thing a young woman would think; there is assonance and consonance seesawing across the sentence, which is slow and gorgeous rather than quick and thrilling.
—Joanna Biggs, Harper's Magazine, 2 Feb. 2024
See All Example Sentences for simile
Recent Examples of Synonyms for simile
metaphor
Noun
-
This concept is brought to life by the characters’ perilous physical and psychological journey, constantly suspended between destruction and renewal, reality and metaphor.—
Robert Lang,
Deadline,
7 Jan. 2026
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With relentless howling wind making up much of the soundtrack, The Turin Horse was a chilling, enigmatic stunner that played like a metaphor for the apocalypse.—
Tim Grierson,
Rolling Stone,
6 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Simile.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/simile. Accessed 23 Jan. 2026.
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