Metaphor definition
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in “a sea of troubles” or.
noun
One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.
noun
A figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is applied to another (Ex.: the curtain of night, “all the world's a stage”)
noun
The derivation of metaphor means "to carry over." For example, the "desktop metaphor" means that the office desktop has been simulated on computers. See paradigm.
The definition of a metaphor is a word or phrase used to compare two unlike objects, ideas, thoughts or feelings to provide a clearer description.
An example of a metaphor is calling the dependable father a rock.
noun
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(uncountable, rhetoric) The use of a word or phrase to refer to something that it isn't, invoking a direct similarity between the word or phrase used and the thing described, but in the case of English without the words like or as, which would imply a simile.
noun
(countable, rhetoric) The word or phrase used in this way. An implied comparison.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun
Singular:
metaphor
Plural:
metaphorsOrigin of metaphor
- Middle English methaphor from Old French metaphore from Latin metaphora from Greek transference, metaphor from metapherein to transfer meta- meta- pherein to carry bher-1 in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- From Latin metaphora, from Ancient Greek μεταφορά (metaphora), from μεταφέρω (metapherō, “I transfer, apply"), from μετά (meta, “with, across, after") + φέρω (pherō, “I bear, carry")
From Wiktionary