metaphor

«metaphor» in Mova's school dictionary: a way of describing something by saying it IS something… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a metaphor, metaphors)

meaning for a pupil

1) A metaphor is a way of describing something by saying it IS something else, to show what it is like, without using «like» or «as»: «The classroom was a zoo» means it was wild and noisy. tree →

2) A metaphor can be a thing or idea that stands for something else: a journey can be a metaphor for growing up. tree →

sense in the lessons

In English and poetry lessons (and reading tests), pupils find and explain metaphors and use them to make their own writing vivid: «Her eyes were stars», «Time is money», «He has a heart of stone». Many everyday phrases are hidden metaphors: «a sea of faces», «a storm of applause», «the apple of my eye». Phrases: use a metaphor, a metaphor for, an extended metaphor.

examples

• «The snow was a white blanket» is a metaphor. tree →
• The poet uses a metaphor to compare life to a river. tree →
• «He has a heart of gold» is a metaphor; he is very kind. tree →
• Explain what the metaphor tells us about the character. tree →
• «My brother is a couch potato» is a funny metaphor. tree →
• Underline the metaphor in the second line. tree →
• The storm in the story is a metaphor for her anger. tree →
• «Time is a thief» is a metaphor, because time cannot really steal. tree →

note

Countable: a metaphor, metaphors. Adjective: «metaphorical»; adverb «metaphorically» (not literally). Pronounced «MET-uh-for». The key trap: a metaphor says something IS something else; a simile compares using «like» or «as» («as brave as a lion», «ran like the wind»). Personification gives human actions to things («the wind whispered») and is a special kind of metaphor.

In the corpora

• Poets paint pictures with words, and they have a few favourite tricks: the simile, the metaphor, personification and alliteration.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «metaphor» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.