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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.

Nevertheless, the wormhole metaphor flourished in popular culture and speculative theoretical physics.

From Science Daily • May 22, 2026

The metaphor worked because Fourth Amendment law still relies heavily on physical intuition.

From Slate • May 20, 2026

A more accurate metaphor would be credit termites — insects that infest and destroy structural timbers.

From MarketWatch • May 20, 2026

The fictional movie he’s making looks stiff, a period epic about Spain’s colonialist withdrawal from the Sahara in the 1930s, which doubles as a metaphor for the father’s destructive absence from his now-adult child’s life.

From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026

The clock metaphor is thus used by Descartes to make an epistemological argument about the limits of our understanding, rather than as an analogy as to how the universe actually works.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton




Vocabulary lists containing metaphor


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