metaphor

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA ^(key): /ˈmɛ.tə.fə/ or /ˈmɛt.ə.fɔː/
• (US) IPA ^(key): /ˈmɛt.ə.fɔr/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: me‧ta‧phor

Noun

Singular metaphor

Plural metaphors

1. (countable) A metaphor is a way of talking about one thing by using the language usually used for something else to show some kind of similarity between them.

   People often talk about brains using the metaphor of a computer.

   We say "spend time" because of the metaphor "time is money".