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Meaning of METAPHOR

Pronunciation:  'metu`for

WordNet Dictionary

METAPHOR is a 8 letter word that starts with M.


 See Also: dead metaphor, figure, figure of speech, frozen metaphor, image, mixed metaphor, synesthetic metaphor, trope



Webster's 1913 Dictionary
\Met"a*phor\, n. [F. m['e]taphore, L. metaphora, fr.
Gr. ?, fr. ? to carry over, transfer; meta` beyond, over +
fe`rein to bring, bear.] (Rhet.)
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. --Abbott &
Seeley. ``All the world's a stage.'' --Shak.

Note: The statement, ``that man is a fox,'' is a metaphor;
      but ``that man is like a fox,'' is a simile,
      similitude, or comparison.

Thesaurus Terms
 Related Terms: accordance, agent, agreement, alikeness, allegory, alliance, alliteration, allusion, alternate, alternative, anacoluthon, anadiplosis, analogue, analogy, anaphora, anastrophe, antiphrasis, antithesis, antonomasia, aping, apophasis, aporia, aposiopesis, apostrophe, approach, approximation, assimilation, backup, balancing, catachresis, change, changeling, chiasmus, circumlocution, climax, closeness, community, comparability, comparative anatomy, comparative degree, comparative grammar, comparative judgment, comparative linguistics, comparative literature, comparative method, compare, comparing, comparison, conformity, confrontation, confrontment, contrast, contrastiveness, conversion, copy, copying, correlation, correspondence, counterfeit, deputy, distinction, distinctiveness, double, dummy, ecphonesis, emphasis, equal, equivalent, ersatz, exchange, exclamation, fake, figure of speech, fill-in, gemination, ghost, ghostwriter, hypallage, hyperbaton, hyperbole, identity, image, imagery, imitation, inversion, irony, likeness, likening, litotes, locum tenens, makeshift, malapropism, matching, meiosis, metonymy, mimicking, nearness, next best thing, onomatopoeia, opposing, opposition, oxymoron, parallelism, paregmenon, parenthesis, parity, periphrasis, personification, personnel, phony, pinch hitter, pleonasm, preterition, prolepsis, proportion, proxy, reference, regression, relation, relief, repetition, replacement, representative, resemblance, reserves, ringer, sameness, sarcasm, second string, secondary, semblance, sign, similarity, simile, similitude, simulation, spares, spoonerism, stand-in, sub, substituent, substitute, substitution, succedaneum, superseder, supplanter, surrogate, syllepsis, symbol, symbolism, symploce, synecdoche, third string, token, trope, trope of comparison, understudy, utility player, vicar, vice-president, vice-regent, weighing, zeugma