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Antonyms for metaphor


Grammar : Noun
Spell : met-uh-fawr, -fer
Phonetic Transcription : ˈmɛt əˌfɔr, -fər



Definition of metaphor

Origin :
  • late 15c., from Middle French metaphore (Old French metafore, 13c.), and directly from Latin metaphora, from Greek metaphora "a transfer," especially of the sense of one word to a different word, literally "a carrying over," from metapherein "transfer, carry over; change, alter; to use a word in a strange sense," from meta- "over, across" (see meta-) + pherein "to carry, bear" (see infer).
  • noun figure of speech, implied comparison
Example sentences :
  • The metaphor might be meaningless; but it struck him it was strong.
  • Extract from : « Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 2, April 9, 1870 » by Various
  • Now, it is this sense of the solidity of things that can only be uttered by the metaphor of eating.
  • Extract from : « Alarms and Discursions » by G. K. Chesterton
  • But the metaphor is more striking as phrase-making than as criticism.
  • Extract from : « Shelley, Godwin and Their Circle » by H. N. Brailsford
  • Instinctively, metaphor sprang to the lips of Ichabod Maurice.
  • Extract from : « A Breath of Prairie and other stories » by Will Lillibridge
  • Parts of speech are metaphors, because the whole of nature is a metaphor of the human mind.
  • Extract from : « Nature » by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • In spite of herself, Beatrix laughed at the logical application of her metaphor.
  • Extract from : « The Dominant Strain » by Anna Chapin Ray
  • She found the cat, in the way of metaphor, a mysteriously useful animal.
  • Extract from : « The Prisoner » by Alice Brown
  • He might, under the circumstances, have been expected to use some other metaphor.
  • Extract from : « The Red Hand of Ulster » by George A. Birmingham
  • This metaphor, from the swelling and heaving of a wave, is imitated by Arrian, Anab.
  • Extract from : « The First Four Books of Xenophon's Anabasis » by Xenophon
  • Bishop looked a little grave when Kenyon dropped into metaphor.
  • Extract from : « Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 104, March 4, 1893 » by Various

Synonyms for metaphor

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019