metaphorical

met·a·phor

M0247700 (mĕt′ə-fôr′, -fər)n.1. A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in "a sea of troubles" or "All the world's a stage" (Shakespeare).2. One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol: "Hollywood has always been an irresistible, prefabricated metaphor for the crass, the materialistic, the shallow, and the craven" (Neal Gabler).

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[Middle English methaphor, from Old French metaphore, from Latin metaphora, from Greek, transference, metaphor, from metapherein, to transfer : meta-, meta- + pherein, to carry; see bher- in Indo-European roots.]

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met′a·phor′ic (-fôr′ĭk), met′a·phor′i·cal adj.met′a·phor′i·cal·ly adv.

Thesaurus

Adj.

1.

metaphorical - expressing one thing in terms normally denoting another; "a metaphorical expression"; "metaphoric language"metaphoricfigurative, nonliteral - (used of the meanings of words or text) not literal; using figures of speech; "figurative language"

metaphorical

adjective figurative, symbolic, emblematic, allegorical, emblematical, tropical (Rhetoric) The ship may be heading for the metaphorical rocks unless a buyer can be found.

Translations

metaphorischμεταφορικόςmetaforicometafórico