metaphor, simile

metaphor, simile
   Both are figures of speech in which two things are compared. A simile likens one thing to another, dissimilar one: "He ran like the wind"; "She took to racing as a duck takes to water." A metaphor acts as if the two compared things are identical and substitutes one for the other. Comparing the beginning of time to the beginning of a day, for instance, produces the metaphor "the dawn of time."
   Much has been written about the perils of mixed metaphors and their potential for inadvertent absurdity, as seen here: "This is a virgin field pregnant with possibilities" (cited by Fowler); "Yet the President has backed him to the hilt every time the chips were down" (cited by Bernstein). The shortcoming of such sentences is not so much that they mix metaphors as that they mix cliches. When neither of the metaphors in a sentence is hackneyed, you might just get away with it-as Shakespeare clearly did when he wrote, "Or to take arms against a sea of troubles."
   It should also be noted that you dont need two metaphors to botch a sentence. One will do if it is sufficiently inappropriate, as it was here: "Indiana, ranked the No. 1 swimming power in the nation, walked away with the Big Ten championship tonight" (Associated Press).

Dictionary of troublesome word. . 2013.

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  • metaphor, simile —  Both are figures of speech in which two things are compared. A simile likens one thing to another, dissimilar one: He ran like the wind ; She took to racing as a duck takes to water. A metaphor, on the other hand, acts as if the two compared… …   Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors

  • metaphor, simile —    Both are figures of speech in which two things are compared. A simile likens one thing to another, dissimilar one: He ran like the wind ; She took to racing as a duck takes to water. A metaphor acts as if the two compared things are identical… …   Dictionary of troublesome word

  • metaphor — simile, *analogy …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • metaphor — metaphorical /met euh fawr i keuhl, for /, metaphoric, adj. metaphorically, adv. metaphoricalness, n. /met euh fawr , feuhr/, n. 1. a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in… …   Universalium

  • metaphor and simile — 1. The difference between these two figures of speech, which together constitute a major element of English idiom, is largely one of form. A simile is a fanciful comparison couched in a form introduced by as or like, for example Byron s line The… …   Modern English usage

  • Metaphor in philosophy — Metaphor, the description of one thing as something else, has become of interest in recent decades to both analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, but for different reasons. Contents 1 Metaphor in analytic philosophy 2 Metaphor in… …   Wikipedia

  • metaphor — met a*phor (m[e^]t [.a]*f[^o]r or m[e^]t [.a]*f[ e]r), n. [F. m[ e]taphore, L. metaphora, fr. Gr. metafora , fr. metafe rein to carry over, transfer; meta beyond, over + fe rein to bring, bear.] (Rhet.) The transference of the relation between… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • simile — is a figure of speech consisting of a direct comparison using a construction with as…as…, or with the first as omitted: • Soft as rain slipping through rushes, the cattle came Edmund Blunden. Some similes belong to a stock type, e.g. (as) drunk… …   Modern English usage

  • metaphor — [met′ə fôr΄] n. [Fr métaphore < L metaphora < Gr < metapherein, to carry over < meta, over (see META ) + pherein, to BEAR1] a figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used… …   English World dictionary

  • simile — *analogy, metaphor …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

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