Metaphor
['metəfə;-fɔː] or ['mɛtəfɚ]
Definition
(noun.) a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity.
Edited by Darrell--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The transference of the relation between one set of objects to another set for the purpose of brief explanation; a compressed simile; e. g., the ship plows the sea.
Typist: Marcus
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Similitude (without the signs of comparison), simile (expressed in a word).
Checker: Thelma
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Similitude, image
ANT:Letter, literalness
Inputed by Antonia
Definition
n. a transference of meaning the putting of one thing for another which it only resembles as when words are said to be bitter: an implicit simile.—adjs. Metaphor′ic -al pertaining to or containing metaphor: figurative.—adv. Metaphor′ically.—ns. Metaphor′icalness; Met′aphorist.—Mixed metaphor an expression in which two or more metaphors are confused where one only is capable of being intelligibly evolved or conceived objectively as Cromwell's 'God has kindled a seed in this nation.'
Checked by Dick
Examples
- His betrothed looked shocked at the metaphor, and George Dorset exclaimed with a sardonic growl: Poor devil! Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- My point is that the metaphor is taken for the reality: I have used at least six metaphors to state it. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- When divested of metaphor, a straight line or a square has no more to do with right and justice than a crooked line with vice. Plato. The Republic.
- To leave metaphor. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- He smiled at the whirl of metaphor with which he was trying to build up a defence against the influences of the last hour. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Connected ideas are readily taken for each other; and this is in general the source of the metaphor, as we shall have occasion to observe afterwards. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Hence the old metaphor of worthlessness of bricks without straw, but of course in burning, and in modern processes of pressing unburnt bricks, straw is no longer used. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Every line, every word wasin the hackneyed metaphor which their dear writer, were she here, would forbida dagger to my heart. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- Coleridge said, I attend Davy’s lectures to increase my stock of metaphors, and there were many others who went to hear the young chemist for other reasons than a liking for science. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- My point is that the metaphor is taken for the reality: I have used at least six metaphors to state it. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- If he used metaphors, it was to illustrate, and not to embellish the truth. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
Inputed by Bella