noun · verb · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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Received-Pronunciation:/ˈmɛt.ə.fə/
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈmɛt.ə.fɔː/
London:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Canada, General-American:/ˈmɛt.ə.foɹ/
Canada, General-American:[ˈmɛɾ.ə.foɹ]
California:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
US, rare:/ˈmɛt.ə.fɚ/
US, rare:[ˈmɛɾ.ə.fɚ]
rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)
CMU ARPABET:M EH1 T AH0 F AO0 R
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
The use of a word, phrase, concept, or set of concepts to refer to something other than its literal meaning, invoking an implicit similarity between the thing described and what is denoted by the word, etc., that is used.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: rhetoric, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A word or phrase used in such implied comparison.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, rhetoric
Examples
1979, Daniel Breazeale (translator), Friedrich Nietzsche, On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense [1873, Über Wahrheit und Lüge im außermoralischen Sinn], in Philosophy and Truth, page 84, quoted in 1998, Ian Markham, Truth and the Reality of God: An Essay in Natural Theology, page 103, What then is truth? A movable host of metaphors, metonymies, and anthropomorphisms: in short, a sum of human relations which have been poetically and rhetorically intensified, transferred, and embellished, and which, after long usage, seems to a people to be fixed, canonical, and binding. Truths are illusions which we have forgotten are illusions; they are metaphors that have become worn out and have been drained of sensuous force, coins which have lost their embossing and are now considered as metal and no longer as coins.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
The use of an everyday object or concept to represent an underlying facet of the computer and thus aid users in performing tasks.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
verb
Meaning 5
To describe by means of a metaphor.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
noun
Meaning 6
a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: trope, figure of speech, figure, image
Narrower terms: dead metaphor, frozen metaphor, mixed metaphor, synesthetic metaphor
History
Etymology
From Middle French métaphore, from Latin metaphora, from Ancient Greek μεταφορά (metaphorá), from μεταφέρω (metaphérō, “to transfer, apply”), from μετά (metá, “with, across, after”) + φέρω (phérō, “to bear, carry”).
Across languages
Translations
130 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Afrikaans:
metafoor
— uncountable: figure of speech
Albanian:
metaforë
— uncountable: figure of speech
Arabic:
اِسْتِعَارَة
(istiʕāra)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Armenian:
փոխաբերություն
(pʻoxaberutʻyun)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Armenian:
մետաֆոր
(metafor)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Azerbaijani:
istiarə
— uncountable: figure of speech
Azerbaijani:
məcaz
— uncountable: figure of speech
Azerbaijani:
metafora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Belarusian:
мета́фара
(mjetáfara)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Bulgarian:
мета́фора
(metáfora)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Burmese:
ရူပကအလင်္ကာ
(rupa.ka.a.langka)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Chinese Cantonese:
比喻
(bei2 jyu6)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Chinese Mandarin:
比喻
(bǐyù)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Czech:
metafora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Danish:
metafor
— uncountable: figure of speech
Dutch:
metafoor
— uncountable: figure of speech
Dutch:
beeldspraak
— uncountable: figure of speech
Dutch:
vergelijking
— uncountable: figure of speech
Esperanto:
metaforo
— uncountable: figure of speech
Estonian:
metafoor
— uncountable: figure of speech
Finnish:
metafora
— uncountable: figure of speech
French:
métaphore
— uncountable: figure of speech
Galician:
metáfora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Georgian:
მეტაფორა
(meṭapora)
— uncountable: figure of speech
German:
Metapher
— uncountable: figure of speech
Greek:
μεταφορά
(metaforá)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Ancient Greek:
μεταφορά
(metaphorá)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Hebrew:
מֶטָפוֹרָה
(metáfora)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Hindi:
रूपक
(rūpak)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Hungarian:
metafora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Hungarian:
hasonlóságon alapuló névátvitel
— uncountable: figure of speech
Icelandic:
myndlíking
— uncountable: figure of speech
Icelandic:
myndhverfing
— uncountable: figure of speech
Indonesian:
majas
— uncountable: figure of speech
Indonesian:
metafora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Indonesian:
kiasan
— uncountable: figure of speech
Irish:
meafar
— uncountable: figure of speech
Italian:
metafora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Italian:
tropo
— uncountable: figure of speech
Italian:
figura retorica
— uncountable: figure of speech
Japanese:
比喩
(hiyu)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Japanese:
メタファー
(metafā)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Japanese:
隠喩
(in'yu)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Japanese:
暗喩
(an'yu)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Kannada:
ರೂಪಕ
(rūpaka)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Kazakh:
метафора
(metafora)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Khmer:
ធម្មារម្មណ៍
(thŏəmmiərŏəm)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Korean:
비유
(biyu)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Korean:
은유
(eunyu)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Korean:
암유
(amyu)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Kyrgyz:
метафора
(metafora)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Lao:
ຄໍາອຸປະມາ
(kham ʼu pa mā)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Lao:
ຄໍາອຸບປະມາ
(kham ʼup pa mā)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Latvian:
metafora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Lithuanian:
metafora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Macedonian:
мета́фора
(metáfora)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Malay:
metafora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Māori:
huahuatau
— uncountable: figure of speech
Māori:
kupu whakarite
— uncountable: figure of speech
Mongolian:
зүйрлэл
(züjrlel)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Norwegian Bokmål:
metafor
— uncountable: figure of speech
Norwegian Nynorsk:
metafor
— uncountable: figure of speech
Persian:
استعاره
(este'âre)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Persian:
مجاز
(majâz)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Polish:
przenośnia
— uncountable: figure of speech
Polish:
metafora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Portuguese:
metáfora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Romanian:
metaforă
— uncountable: figure of speech
Russian:
мета́фора
(metáfora)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Serbo-Croatian:
мета̀фора
— uncountable: figure of speech
Serbo-Croatian:
metàfora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Slovak:
metafora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Slovene:
metafora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Spanish:
metáfora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Swedish:
metafor
— uncountable: figure of speech
Tagalog:
metapora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Tajik:
истиора
(istiora)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Tajik:
маҷоз
(majoz)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Tatar:
метафора
(metafora)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Thai:
อุปลักษณ์
(ùp-bpà-lák)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Thai:
อุปมา
(ùp-bpà-maa)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Thai:
อุปไมย
(ùp-bpà-mai)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Turkish:
metafor
— uncountable: figure of speech
Turkish:
istiare
— uncountable: figure of speech
Turkish:
mecaz
— uncountable: figure of speech
Ukrainian:
мета́фора
(metáfora)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Urdu:
استعارہ
(isti'āra)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Uzbek:
istiora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Uzbek:
metafora
— uncountable: figure of speech
Uzbek:
majoz
— uncountable: figure of speech
Vietnamese:
ẩn dụ
— uncountable: figure of speech
Welsh:
trosiad
— uncountable: figure of speech
Yiddish:
מעטאַפֿאָר
(metafor)
— uncountable: figure of speech
Afrikaans:
metafoor
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Bulgarian:
метафора
(metafora)
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Catalan:
metàfora
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Chinese Mandarin:
比喻
(bǐyù)
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Chinese Mandarin:
隱喻 /隐喻
(yǐnyù)
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Chinese Mandarin:
比擬 /比拟
(bǐnǐ)
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Chinese Mandarin:
象徵 /象征
(xiàngzhēng)
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Czech:
metafora
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Danish:
metafor
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Dutch:
metafoor
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Esperanto:
metaforo
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Finnish:
metafora
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
French:
métaphore
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
German:
Metapher
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Greek:
μεταφορά
(metaforá)
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Ancient Greek:
μεταφορά
(metaphorá)
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Indonesian:
metafora
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Italian:
metafora
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Japanese:
比喩
(hiyu)
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Japanese:
隠喩
(in'yu)
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Japanese:
象徴
(shōchō)
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Norwegian Bokmål:
metafor
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Norwegian Nynorsk:
metafor
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Polish:
przenośnia
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Polish:
metafora
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Portuguese:
metáfora
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Romanian:
metaforă
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Russian:
мета́фора
(metáfora)
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Serbo-Croatian:
мета̀фора
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Serbo-Croatian:
metàfora
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Slovene:
metafora
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Spanish:
metáfora
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Swahili:
sitiari
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Swedish:
metafor
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Turkish:
metafor
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Vietnamese:
ẩn dụ
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor
Vietnamese:
phép ẩn dụ
— countable: word or phrase used in metaphor