metaphor

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  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.
  2. A word or phrase used in such implied comparison.
  3. The use of an everyday object or concept to represent an underlying facet of the computer and thus aid users in performing tasks.
verb
  1. To use a metaphor.
  2. To describe by means of a metaphor.

Pronunciation

/ˈmɛ.tə.fə/ /ˈmɛt.ə.fɔː/ /ˈmɛt.ə.foɹ/ /ˈmɛ.tə.fɚ/ en-us-metaphor.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-metaphor.wav

Word forms

metaphor metaphors metaphoring metaphored

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”).

Translations

Afrikaans: metafoor Albanian: metaforë Arabic: اِسْتِعَارَة Armenian: փոխաբերություն Armenian: մետաֆոր Azerbaijani: istiarə Azerbaijani: məcaz Azerbaijani: metafora Belarusian: мета́фара Bulgarian: мета́фора Burmese: ရူပကအလင်္ကာ Chinese Cantonese: 比喻 Chinese Mandarin: 比喻 Czech: metafora Danish: metafor Dutch: metafoor Dutch: beeldspraak Dutch: vergelijking Esperanto: metaforo Estonian: metafoor Finnish: metafora French: métaphore Galician: metáfora Georgian: მეტაფორა German: Metapher Greek: μεταφορά Ancient Greek: μεταφορά Hebrew: מֶטָפוֹרָה Hindi: रूपक Hungarian: metafora Hungarian: hasonlóságon alapuló névátvitel Icelandic: myndlíking Icelandic: myndhverfing Indonesian: majas Indonesian: metafora Indonesian: kiasan Irish: meafar Italian: metafora Italian: tropo Italian: figura retorica Japanese: 比喩 Japanese: メタファー Japanese: 隠喩 Japanese: 暗喩 Kannada: ರೂಪಕ Kazakh: метафора Khmer: ធម្មារម្មណ៍ Korean: 비유 Korean: 은유 Korean: 암유 Kyrgyz: метафора Lao: ຄໍາອຸປະມາ Lao: ຄຳອຸບປະມາ Latvian: metafora Lithuanian: metafora Macedonian: мета́фора Malay: metafora
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.