metaphor
Syllables: me·ta·phor/ˈmɛt.ə.fə//ˈmɛt.ə.foɹ/
metaphor noun: the use of a word, phrase, concept, or set of concepts to refer to something other than its literal meaning, invoking an implicit similarity between the thing described and what is denoted by the word, etc., that is used.
Noun
metaphor (countable and uncountable, plural metaphors)
- The use of a word, phrase, concept, or set of concepts to refer to something other than its literal meaning, invoking an implicit similarity between the thing described and what is denoted by the word, etc., that is used.
- The next group of computational approaches to metaphor assume that metaphor is basically a hidden analogy.2013, Eileen Cornell Way, Knowledge Representation and Metaphor, page 157
- A word or phrase used in such implied comparison.
- A Metaphor, in place of proper words,
Resemblance puts; and dress to speech affords.1835, L[arret] Langley, “[The Seven Tropes.] Metaphor.”, in A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster, South Yorkshire: […] C. White, […], →OCLC, page 3 - A Metaphor may be changed into a Simile, and also into plain language, containing neither metaphor nor simile. Thus:
Metaphor. — Idleness is the rust of the soul.
Simile. — As rust is to iron, so is idleness to the soul, taking away its strength and power of resistance.
Plain. — Idleness takes away...1874, John Seely Hart, First Lessons in Composition, page 92
- A Metaphor, in place of proper words,
- The use of an everyday object or concept to represent an underlying facet of the computer and thus aid users in performing tasks.
- desktop metaphor, wastebasket metaphor
Verb
metaphor (third-person singular simple present metaphors, present participle metaphoring, simple past and past participle metaphored)
- To use a metaphor.
- To describe by means of a metaphor.
metaphor meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
metaphor in Hindi
- uncountable: figure of speech
- रूपक rūpak
metaphor in Tamil
- உருவகம்
metaphor in Marathi
- रूपक
metaphor in Urdu
- uncountable: figure of speech
- استعارہ isti'āra
More languagesFewer languages
- metaphor in Bengali
- উপমা
- metaphor in Telugu
- రూపకము rūpakamu
- metaphor in Malayalam
- അലങ്കാരം, രൂപകം
- metaphor in Kannada
- ರೂಪಕ rūpaka
- metaphor in Punjabi
- ਰੂਪਕ
- metaphor in Gujarati
- રૂપક, રૂપકથન
- metaphor in Odia
- ରୂପକ
- metaphor in Nepali
- रूपक
- metaphor in Tagalog
- metapora
- metaphor in Arabic
- اِسْتِعَارَة istiʕāra
- metaphor in Malay
- metafora
- metaphor in Indonesian
- majas, metafora, kiasan
- metaphor in Persian
- استعاره este'âre, مجاز majâz
- metaphor in Thai
- อุปลักษณ์ ùp-bpà-lák, อุปมา ùp-bpà-maa, อุปไมย ùp-bpà-mai
- metaphor in Vietnamese
- ẩn dụ, phép ẩn dụ
- metaphor in Myanmar
- ရူပကအလင်္ကာ rupa.ka.a.langka
Examples of metaphor in a sentence
- The "invisible hand" is an oft-used metaphor for the free market.
- As an alternative, I suggest that source code abstractions are virtualisations of metaphors.
- Some of these abstractions are so familiar that we have forgotten they are metaphors.
Forms of metaphor
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | metaphors |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | metaphors |
| present participle | metaphoring |
| past participle | metaphored |
| past | metaphored |
Origin of metaphor
From Middle French métaphore, from Latin metaphora, from Ancient Greek μεταφορά (metaphorá), from μεταφέρω (metaphérō, “to transfer, apply”), from μετά (metá, “with, across, after”) + φέρω (phérō, “to bear, carry”).
Words formed from metaphor
- conceptual metaphor
- dead metaphor
- extended metaphor
- malaphor
- metaphoreme
- metaphoric
- metaphorical
- metaphorical extension
- metaphorically
- metaphorician
- metaphoricity
- metaphorics
- metaphorism
- metaphorist
- metaphorization
- metaphorize
- metaphorology
- mixed metaphor
- stale metaphor
- supermetaphor
Words that rhyme with metaphor
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about metaphor
- What does metaphor mean?
- Metaphor means the use of a word, phrase, concept, or set of concepts to refer to something other than its literal meaning, invoking an implicit similarity between the thing described and what is denoted by the word, etc., that is used.
- What is metaphor in Hindi?
- Metaphor in Hindi is रूपक (rūpak). See Metaphor meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is metaphor?
- Metaphor can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce metaphor?
- Metaphor is pronounced /ˈmɛt.ə.fə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of metaphor?
- The plural of metaphor is metaphors.
Words near metaphor in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: metaphor (page history and authors); metaphor (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); metaphor (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); metaphor (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); రూపకము (Telugu) (page history and authors); metaphor (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); metaphor (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); metaphor (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); metaphor (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); metaphor (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-metaphor.wav, en-us-metaphor.ogg.
Cite this entry: “metaphor.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/metaphor. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.