Standard Lemma guide

metaphor

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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • 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

Usage: countable

Topics: computing, engineering, graphical-user-interface, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

Examples

  • desktop metaphor, wastebasket metaphor

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To use a metaphor.

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
Real reading context

metaphor in complete knowledge articles