Word.ws English Dictionary

mixed metaphor

mixed metaphor noun: an overreaching, contradictory or incongruous combination of two distinct metaphors, similes or idioms.

Noun

mixed metaphor (plural mixed metaphors)

  1. An overreaching, contradictory or incongruous combination of two distinct metaphors, similes or idioms.
    • This is just what the world sounds like now. This is how everything has chosen to speak. Mixed metaphors and empty sincerity.2025 December 3, Sam Kriss, “Why Does A.I. Write Like … That?”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Dec 2025

Forms of mixed metaphor

pluralmixed metaphors

Questions about mixed metaphor

What does mixed metaphor mean?
Mixed metaphor means an overreaching, contradictory or incongruous combination of two distinct metaphors, similes or idioms.
What part of speech is mixed metaphor?
Mixed metaphor is a noun.
What is the plural of mixed metaphor?
The plural of mixed metaphor is mixed metaphors.

Words near mixed metaphor in the dictionary

  1. mixed martial artists
  2. mixed martial arts
  3. mixed media
  4. mixed message
  5. mixed messages
  6. mixed metaphor
  7. mixed metaphors
  8. mixed methods
  9. mixed monarchies
  10. mixed monarchy
  11. mixed mutation

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mixed metaphor (page history and authors). 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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