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metaphor

[met-uh-fawr, -fer] / ˈmɛt əˌfɔr, -fər /
NOUN
figure of speech, implied comparison
Synonyms
Antonyms
WEAK
plain speech


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Even couples who make it well into a marriage contend with all the perils born from romance gone stale, including the functional discord clumsily realized in the sight-gag metaphor of “The Miniature Wife.”

From Salon • Apr. 23, 2026

It feels like an appropriate metaphor for the club's season.

From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026

Her crime, she believes, is “the cardinal scientific sin of anthropomorphizing trees by using the metaphor of the mother tree.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

Honoring her great-grandfather Cole Grove with the canary metaphor of the former, both songs celebrate personal salvation.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026

In the union hall the word ‘brother’ became a vague metaphor; with repetition a weak echo of the intimate sound.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez




Vocabulary lists containing metaphor