Analogy
[ə'nælədʒɪ] or [ə'nælədʒi]
Definition
(noun.) drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity in some respect; 'the operation of a computer presents and interesting analogy to the working of the brain'; 'the models show by analogy how matter is built up'.
(noun.) an inference that if things agree in some respects they probably agree in others.
Inputed by Hannibal--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A resemblance of relations; an agreement or likeness between things in some circumstances or effects, when the things are otherwise entirely different. Thus, learning enlightens the mind, because it is to the mind what light is to the eye, enabling it to discover things before hidden.
(n.) A relation or correspondence in function, between organs or parts which are decidedly different.
(n.) Proportion; equality of ratios.
(n.) Conformity of words to the genius, structure, or general rules of a language; similarity of origin, inflection, or principle of pronunciation, and the like, as opposed to anomaly.
Editor: Melinda
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Similarity (in relations or uses), resemblance, likeness, parallelism, similitude, parity, correspondence.
Editor: Paula
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Relation, resemblance, proportion, similarity, similitude, coincidence,affinity, comparison, parity
ANT:Disproportion, dissimilarity, disharmony, irrelativeness, heterogeneousness,incongruity, inaffinity
Checker: Mara
Definition
n. an agreement or correspondence in certain respects between things otherwise different—a resemblance of relations as in the phrase 'Knowledge is to the mind what light is to the eye:' relation in general: likeness: (geom.) proportion or the equality of ratios: (gram.) the correspondence of a word or phrase with the genius of a language as learned from the manner in which its words and phrases are ordinarily formed: similarity of derivative or inflectional processes.—adjs. Analog′ical Anal′ogic.—adv. Analog′ically.—v.t. Anal′ogise to explain or consider by analogy:—pr.p. anal′ogīsing; pa.p. anal′ogīsed.—ns. Anal′ogism (obs.) investigation by analogy: argument from cause to effect; Anal′ogist one who adheres to analogy; Anal′ogon = analogue.—adj. Anal′ogous having analogy: bearing some correspondence with or resemblance to: similar in certain circumstances or relations (with to).—adv. Anal′ogously.—ns. Anal′ogousness; An′alogue a word or body bearing analogy to or resembling another: (biol.) a term used to denote physiological independent of morphological resemblance.—Organs are analogous to one another or are analogues when they perform the same function though they may be altogether different in structure; as the wings of a bird and the wings of an insect. Again organs are homologous or homologues when they are constructed on the same plan undergo a similar development and bear the same relative position and this independent of either form or function. Thus the arms of a man and the wings of a bird are homologues of one another while the wing of a bird and the wing of a bat are both analogous and homologous.
Inputed by Bruno
Examples
- The influence of analogy led him to invent 'parallels and conjugates' and to overlook facts. Plato. The Republic.
- If it be analogous, we may hope to explain its causes from analogy, and trace it up to more general principles. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- The analogy was well meant, but did not altogether please him. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- The hardiness of their ordinary life prepares them for the fatigues of war, to some of which their necessary occupations bear a great analogy. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- If I get wrong in my reasoning, recollect, it is you who adopted the analogy. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- Is it possible, I wonder, that there was any analogy between the case of the Coketown population and the case of the little Gradgrinds? Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- I should argue, by analogy, that to anybody else, I must be a very desirable object. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Many people have sought an analogy in our Civil War. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- There is analogy between the moral and physical atmosphere. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Only when the abolition of white slavery becomes part of the social currents of the time will it bear any interesting analogy to the so-called freeing of the slaves. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- But surely the analogy is superficial; the difference profound. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- He is made to admit that justice is a thief, and that the virtues follow the analogy of the arts. Plato. The Republic.
- And yet in the absurdities which follow from some uses of the analogy, there seems to be an intimation conveyed that virtue is more than art. Plato. The Republic.
- Socrates is quite ready to accept the new position, which he equally turns against Thrasymachus by the help of the analogy of the arts. Plato. The Republic.
- Then here, you say, is where your analogy between the camera and the eye falls down. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- In this respect he is far below Aristotle, who is comparatively seldom imposed upon by false analogies. Plato. The Republic.
- Various analogies next pointed to the use of heat, and the thermoelectric cell emerged, embodying the application of flame to the junction of two different metals. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- There would be no more empty taboos, no erecting of institutions upon abstract and mechanical analogies. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Continuing the c omparison in either direction, up or down the lists, one could readily detect other analogies. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
Editor: Yvonne