A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase denoting one kind of object or action is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them: the person being …

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...

Something metaphoric is figurative or symbolic — in other words, it's a metaphor. Your mom might use the metaphoric phrase "disaster area" when she talks about your bedroom.

Definition of 'metaphoric' metaphoric in British English adjective (of a word or phrase) used to signify an object or action in a way that is not literal but by means of an imaginative analogy, …

metaphoric, adj. meanings, etymology, pronunciation and more in the Oxford English Dictionary

Rhetoric a way of describing another object or thing by suggesting a comparison of it to something else, but without using the word "like'' or "as'':[countable] The rose is often a metaphor of love …

Jan 2, 2026 · Deconstructionists challenge the distinction between literal and metaphoric meaning: all language is metaphorical and there is no underlying literal level.

relating to or characterized by metaphor; figurative: The poet used a metaphoric style to express her grief.. Learn more.

Henry Kissinger, in his 1979 memoirs, The White House Years, was among the first to give the word a metaphoric stretch: “I favored European unity, but I was agnostic about the form it …

Metaphoric definition: Like a <a>metaphor</a>.