Metaphor Definition

mĕtə-fôr, -fər

metaphors

noun

A figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is applied to another (Ex.: the curtain of night, “all the world's a stage”)

Webster's New World

One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.

American Heritage

(uncountable, rhetoric) The use of a word or phrase to refer to something that it isn't, invoking a direct similarity between the word or phrase used and the thing described, but in the case of English without the words like or as, which would imply a simile.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

Antonyms:
plain speech

Other Word Forms of Metaphor

Noun

Singular:

metaphor

Plural:

metaphors

Origin of Metaphor

Middle English methaphor from Old French metaphore from Latin metaphora from Greek transference, metaphor from metapherein to transfer meta- meta- pherein to carry bher-¹ in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
From Latin metaphora, from Ancient Greek μεταφορά (metaphora), from μεταφέρω (metapherō, “I transfer, apply"), from μετά (meta, “with, across, after") + φέρω (pherō, “I bear, carry")

From Wiktionary