What Is a Metaphor? | Definition, Examples & Types

A metaphor is way to describe something or someone by saying that it is (or sometimes isn’t) something else, as in the examples below.

This is a figurative (nonliteral) use of language. A metaphorical statement isn’t literally true, but it’s used to state or imply something true about the thing or person described.

Metaphor can be categorized as a literary device, figure of speech, or rhetorical device. It is encountered in everyday speech, in literature, and in all kinds of writing. QuillBot’s Paraphraser can help you explore creative writing devices like metaphors!

What is a metaphor?

Metaphors are rhetorical devices based on a comparison between two unlike things. The usual form of a metaphor involves stating that something or someone is something or someone else. For instance, take the sentence “Justine is an open book.”

There are two parts to a metaphor:

• The tenor is the literal thing or person that the metaphor describes (in our example, “Justine”).
• The vehicle is the thing or person used figuratively to describe the tenor (in our example, “an open book”).

Metaphor vs simile

Metaphor is closely related to simile, but the two terms are not interchangeable. Both involve a figurative comparison between two things or people, but they differ in how the comparison is expressed:

• A metaphor suggests a comparison between two unlike things by stating that one is the other (e.g., “He’s an angel”).
• A simile explicitly compares the two things, using comparison words such as “as,” “like,” and “than” (e.g., “He’s as pure as an angel”). It resembles the phrasing you’d use for a literal comparison like “She’s as tall as me.”

Allegory vs metaphor

An allegory is a story (or image, or play) that uses symbols or fictional figures to stand in for things like ideas, virtues, seasons, or social groups in order to make a point about them. As such, it involves the use of various metaphors but is generally much more extended and complex.

Allegory was a particularly popular form of literature in the medieval era, when it was often used to illustrate religious virtues and vices. Allegories are still encountered today but are often seen as overly moralizing.

Analogy vs metaphor

Analogy usually refers to a way of making an argument or explaining something by comparing two unlike things and demonstrating the qualities that they share. This is more specifically called a shared abstraction analogy.

Metaphors and similes are both sometimes confused with shared abstraction analogies. The difference is that the analogy, although it’s based on a metaphor or simile, is developed at greater length and with the goal of making a specific point or explaining a topic.

Types of metaphor

Metaphors are very common in both written and spoken language, and they come in many different varieties.

• Direct metaphor
• Implied metaphor
• Negative metaphor
• Dead metaphor
• Extended metaphor
• Mixed metaphor

Direct metaphor

The most typical kind of metaphor is the kind already described above, in which something or someone is said to be something or someone else. This is called a direct metaphor. It may involve any form of the verb “be” (e.g., “is,” “was,” “are,” “will be”). Sometimes, it may involve a different verb.

Implied metaphor

An implied metaphor doesn’t use the typical phrasing “x is y”; instead, it may use a verb, adjective, or other phrasing that expresses an action or trait in a nonliteral way. For example, “She wove a story with her words” implicitly compares the story to something like a tapestry by using the verb “weave.”

Negative metaphor

A metaphor can also be made negative in form, typically by adding the adverb “not.” In this context, you’re asserting that something or someone isn’t something or someone else—in other words, that it lacks the qualities associated with that thing or person.

Dead metaphor

A dead metaphor (sometimes called a frozen metaphor) is a metaphor that’s been used for such a long time that most people no longer think of it as a metaphor.

Metaphors are a very common way of expressing new ideas or technologies by comparing them to some existing concept, and many of them have simply become standard words and phrases that we don’t think of as “metaphorical” nowadays.

Extended metaphor

An extended metaphor (or sustained metaphor) is one that is developed over several sentences, lines (in a poem), or even paragraphs. Extended metaphors generally show up in literature or advertising, not in everyday conversation.

Mixed metaphor

A mixed metaphor is a pejorative term for the combination of two or more metaphors in a single statement. Such a combination usually occurs accidentally and is considered to be bad style. It may also be done deliberately for humorous effect.

Frequently asked questions about metaphors

What does metaphor mean?

Metaphor is a figure of speech (or rhetorical device) in which one thing or person is said to be something or someone else. It is a nonliteral (figurative) statement.

For example, in the sentence “My daughter is a little angel,” the daughter is not literally an angel; rather, the metaphor is used to emphasize her innocence and good behavior.

Metaphor differs from simile, in which the thing or person is not directly said to be something or someone else. Instead, a simile compares the two things/people using comparison words such as “as,” “than,” or “like” (e.g., “she behaves like an angel”).

What is an example of a metaphor?

An example of a metaphor is the sentence “Time is a thief.”

This is a metaphor because it uses a form of the verb “be” to make a figurative statement that something (“time”) is something else (“a thief”). This is done in order to suggest that time steals things away from people, not to make any literal statement.

Metaphor is a rhetorical device that appears in many different contexts, from formal writing to everyday conversation. It should not be confused with simile.