metaphors
Figurative speech devices
Metaphors is the plural of metaphor—a figure of speech that describes one thing as if it were another: Life is a journey, Time is money.
Unlike similes, metaphors don't use "like" or "as." They work by transferring qualities between unlike things, creating fresh ways to understand abstract or complex ideas.
His speech was full of mixed metaphors.
Comparison via "as"
- analogyExplanatory likeness between things
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
- personificationAttributing humanity to non-humans
- hyperboleRhetorical extreme exaggeration
irony · idiom · euphemism · oxymoron · parable · metonymy · synecdoche · understatement
Diagram of correspondences
- frameworkUnderlying support system
- conceptualizationMental creation of ideas
- abstractionDistilling to essential qualities
- mental modelInternal representation of reality
framing · understanding · lens · perspective · paradigm · schema · heuristic
simile
Comparison via "as"
- analogyExplanatory likeness between things
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
- personificationAttributing humanity to non-humans
hyperbole · irony · idiom · euphemism · oxymoron · parable · metonymy · synecdoche · understatement · symbolism
mapping
Diagram of correspondences
- frameworkUnderlying support system
- conceptualizationMental creation of ideas
- abstractionDistilling to essential qualities
mental model · framing · understanding · lens · perspective · paradigm · schema · heuristic
- Hip-Hoprapper, rappers, rhymes, beat, lyrics
- languagelanguage, word, words, grammar, spelling
- phrasesnoun phrases, noun phrase, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, prepositional phrases
- writing termsplot, character, creative writing, vivid imagery, composition
- dreamsnightmare, dreaming, daydream, nightmares, dreams
- riddlesriddles, riddle, conundrums, conundrum, enigmas
metaphorsliteralism
Exact meaning only
plain speech · denotation · literalness · plain meaning · dictionary definitions
metaphorsfacts
Verifiable pieces of truth
data · technical language · plain facts · scientific language · statistics
- poetic metaphorsSymbolic comparisons in verse
- mixed metaphorsIncongruent imagery combined
- extended metaphorFigurative comparison throughout text
- sports metaphorsPhrases borrowed from athletics
- visual metaphorConcept shown through imagery
- dead metaphorFigurative phrase now literal-seeming