analogya‧nal‧o‧gy /əˈnælədʒi/ ●○○ AWL noun (plural analogies) [countable, uncountable] 
analogies between human and animal behaviourdraw/make an analogy (=make a comparison) She drew an analogy between childbirth and the creative process.by analogy with Dr Wood explained the movement of light by analogy with (=using the analogy of) the movement of water.
WORD ORIGINanalogy
Origin:
1400-1500 Probably from Greek analogia, from analogos; ➔ ANALOGOUSEXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
- Leave all your old team analogies behind.
- Lyell's system was, therefore, to exemplify an epistemological analogy.
- The analogy has its limitations, but is a valuable starting point.
- The Hobbesian analogy is considered to be partial and gender-biased.
- The main criticism of the argument from analogy is that these two assumptions are inconsistent.
- The Tree of Knowledge is the appropriate analogy.
- They assume, that is, that the principles of analogy and local interpretation constrain their experience.
- To return to the analogy of the lawn sprinkler and the rainstorm, both can explain how the driveway got wet.
Longman Language Activatorto compare things
to think about two or more things or people, in order to see how similar or different they are: · You should compare at least three or four computers before buying one.compare something/somebody with: · I hate the way you always compare me with your ex-boyfriend.· If you compare rents in London with those in New York, you'll find they are about the same.· You can't compare Charlie Parker with John Coltrane. They were completely different musicians.
to describe someone or something as being similar to someone or something else, especially in order to make it easier to understand: liken somebody/something to: · Critics have likened the new city hall building to a barn.· Morris has often been likened to Bobby Kennedy.· He likened today's stockmarket to that of the 1920s.
to compare two or more situations or ideas, people etc: make a comparison between: · The article makes a comparison between the novels 'Anna Karenina' and 'Madame Bovary'.
to compare two similar situations or ideas in order to explain or prove something about one of them: draw an analogy between: · He drew an analogy between mathematics and language.· Joe drew an analogy between the Soviet Union of 1946 and Germany of 1938.
to compare two different situations in order to show that they are similar in some ways: draw a parallel between/with: · One could draw a parallel between the professions of acting and politics.· He was drawing parallels between events leading up to the last war and current political problems.· You could draw parallels with the old Samson and Delilah story.
to compare two things, situations, ideas etc in order to show how they are different from each other: · The guide was contrasting the styles of Monet and Manet.contrast with: · In the film, the peaceful life of a monk is contrasted with the violent life of a murderer.· It is interesting to contrast life in Spain now with what it was like prior to 1975.compare and contrast (=show the similarities and differences): · The book compares and contrasts the various methods used in language teaching.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY
(=make a comparison) She drew an analogy between childbirth and the creative process.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE She drew an analogy between childbirth and the creative process.· A close analogy can be drawn between cancer of the cell and a society hooked on drugs.· Perhaps a closer analogy would be with a telescope that misrepresented what we were looking at.· There are close analogies between the two spheres.· A close analogy with the art of singing can be made here.· Apart from obvious differences in scale, there were close analogies.· In the bureaucratic model, there is a close analogy with the theory of the firm.
· There is a good analogy with light.· In fact a good analogy may be made with human relationships.· The reason for this is interesting, and worth a digression because it provides a good genetic analogy.· The best analogy is probably with the methods of the legal profession.· The iridescent films of oil on top of puddles provide perhaps the best analogies.· I have suggested that singing is a good analogy for the discovery and use of the light principle.
VERB· Oresme even drew an analogy with what would happen on a moving ship, as Galileo was later to do.· Here we may draw an analogy between geriatrics and paediatrics, another age-based medical specialism.· We can perhaps draw a useful analogy with pharmaceutical products.
· I find this an illuminating analogy of the real purpose of prayer.
· It is not, of course, invariably helpful to make analogies between sexism and racism.· Analogies are of interest because they require a construction and comparison of relationships between the members that make up the analogy.· It starts out with a familiar idea and then builds on it, making neater analogies and finer distinctions.· Logic machines have turned out to be poor at dealing with images and making analogies.· Michael Ghiselin developed this idea further in 1974 and made some telling analogies with economic trends.
· A third way of dealing with a topic indirectly, perhaps the most difficult to handle, is to use analogy.· Another strategy that Cooley uses occasionally is the analogy between things that are very different in most respects.· He then uses this analogy with the sentence to describe the trajectory by which the subject constitutes itself through the other.· I have used the analogy of the structure of a document to describe the basis of the curriculum.· I used the analogy of a family that goes from rags to riches and back to rags in three or four generations.· These items are all connected, and any of them may be used as analogies or homologies for each other.· He sees that Shakespeare discovered how he might use analogy and metaphor as themost acute representation of a mind engaged in thought.· To use Gordon Brown's analogy, we are being offered sparrows and sticklebacks.
WORD FAMILYnounanalogyadjectiveanalogous
something that seems similar between two situations, processes etcanalogy with/to/between analogies between human and animal behaviourdraw/make an analogy (=make a comparison) She drew an analogy between childbirth and the creative process.by analogy with Dr Wood explained the movement of light by analogy with (=using the analogy of) the movement of water.