Questions tagged [simile]
For questions about similes. A simile is a rhetorical device that directly mentions a similarity of two different things, for example: 'as red as wine' or 'slow like a tortoise'.
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Is the sentence onomatopoeia or simile? [closed]
“I’m letting the idea of hacking the robot go when we hear a buzz, like a delivery drone.”
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What is a background check? [closed]
I wanna understand the meaning of the background check? Like I don’t know how to do one or even get one. I really want to know the purpose of a background check.
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Audio version of "Vision"
If 'vision' is the detection of visual information, is there another similar word for the detection of audio..? Obviously 'hearing', although that just doesn't seem appropriate.
'Auditory sensation' ...
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Is "you look like your dad" a simile? [closed]
Is "you look like your dad", or indeed any statement of looking like something in which the description is meant literally (unlike e.g. you look like hell), a simile?
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If you can insert the word "like" and "as" into what people assume is a metaphor, isn't it really a simile? [duplicate]
In this article:
https://blog.prepscholar.com/simile-vs-metaphor
The author uses a popular Katy Perry lyric "baby you're a firework" as an example of a metaphor.
Katy Perry could just have ...
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What's a simile/noun used to describe something shaking violently?
I'm looking for a simile or noun that can be used to describe something shaking violently. For example,
The room shook as hard as --insert thing that shakes violently--.
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As guilty as a louse [closed]
I could not understand this sentence and could not find the meaning. Is it an idiom?
I damn well hope they hang him. I think he’s as guilty as a louse.
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What is a good simile or metaphor for being swallowed in by a crowd, or being surrounded by people?
What is a good simile or metaphor for being swallowed in by a crowd, or being surrounded by people? I am writing a narrative, and in my case I said "I got swallowed in by the crowd." Is ...
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Metaphor similar to "one apple spoils the whole bunch"?
I am trying to describe sectarianism that starts from the oldest generation and seeps down to their children and grandchildren and I am getting major writer's block when trying to find a metaphorical ...
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What does the sentence "I lit a cigarette that tasted like a plumber's handkerchief" mean? [closed]
In what way does a plumber's handkerchief taste like a cigarette?
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Looking For a Simile For Something That Follows You Around
I'm writing a blog post about the impacts of an autoimmune disease. The sentence I'm trying to construct looks like this:
"The disease importunately follows me around like a god damn..."
I'm ...
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What is the opposite of a metaphorical barrier?
I am trying to find a noun that describes a person that enables others to be more productive. The opposite of that is a roadblock or barrier.
My first thought was a sail, since the addition of another ...
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Is this a simile or a metaphor?
'Houses sprouted like mushroom colonies'
I am not sure if this is a simile or a metaphor. Please help. Ty!
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Is 'Lets gather miles together' an acceptable sentence?
Lets gather miles together.
Is this a proper sentence?
Can we use the verb 'gather' for mileages?
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Is the Latter Clause of an Action Simile Attributed to the Subject or Object Acted Upon?
In other (hopefully more graceful) words, are both of the following lines valid?
"A smiling Freddy flung the slimy papaya around like a wet rag."
"A smiling Freddy flung the slimy papaya around like ...
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Word for when something makes something else seems smaller in a relative manner
I'm trying to think of a word that is somehow alluding me.
Imagine two people are speaking loudly, but then a third person begins shouting even louder. The third persons voice has made the other two ...
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Can we use "next of kin" for things as a metaphor?
Wheat has been man's next of kin.
Does this sentence make sense to native English speakers??
It's supposed to be a simile, meaning wheat is like family to humans.
It's a translated sentence from a ...
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Looking for a word meaning "two things maximally mirror each other in symbolism"
I am looking for a word to describe the situation where two things are highly analogous, or parallel in symbolism, meaning, interpretation or purpose.
In the field of biology, we say that two ...
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Metaphor or Simile?
Is this a metaphor or simile?
You'll get kicked out of the Saloon faster than a card shark can shuffle.
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Is this a simile and is this a metaphor?
The sentence is: To live on this farm is to live in the sky and the grass as well as the house.
Is "as well as the house" a simile or is it just saying something similar to "including the house"?
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What does the idiom “funny as hell” mean?
I really don't understand this idiom, hell is supposed to be a horrible place. I understand the saying which is present in dictionaries “hot as hell”, but I could not find “funny as hell” in any ...
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What did Trump mean when he said that the US is like a "piggy bank"?
Trump's statement at the G7 summit on June 9, 2018:
“It’s going to stop,” he said, “or we’ll stop trading with them. And
that’s a very profitable answer, if we have to do it.” He added,
“We’re ...
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Is 'what' a pronoun or a conjunction?
In the sentences below, is what and as pronouns or conjunctions? And how do you parse the sentences?
Facebook is to Sunday morning what karaoke is to Saturday night.
Afghanistan is to the United ...
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What does a "toothless walnut" mean? [closed]
I'm looking for the meaning of this sentence taken from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone:
A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a ...
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I need a simile for clutching something
Can someone help me? I'm writing a paper about the Grand Canyon and in it the main characters brother is is clutching the rail on the sky walk like a ____. I need a simile for this.
user286980
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A particular literary device [closed]
Does this literary device have a name? It seems to me that it shows a simile developing into a metaphor.
...When he saw who I was the guard began behaving like a spaniel. He lay on his back ...
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What was so "hot" about hot cakes?
The phrase "sell like hot cakes" is a simile for how quick something is selling. That said, the meaning of "hot cake" is apparently a synonym of pancakes, or before pancakes, corn griddle cake and ...
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What is the difference between a 'gift' and a 'reward' when speaking? [closed]
Sally got a new car, and her bumper sticker read "My mums reward". On inquiry , understood that it was a gift. But now Im confused if 'Gift and Reward' can be used here ?
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What does "as intuitive as mud" mean?
What does it mean when someone says, for example,
That problem was "as intuitive as mud".
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Is "as much as the next guy" a simile?
Would "as much as the next guy" be a simile, or just an idiom? I am working on a lesson plan for similes, and was not 100% sure.
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Name for this rhetorical device
The text: "The court determined that Student B exhibited adverse educational impact because notwithstanding her passing grades, during her final year at School #1, her symptoms were sufficiently ...
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Similes that do not make use of like or as
Is it possible to have a simile that does not contain the words 'like' or 'as'?
Would the following sentence exemplify such a simile?:
He was handsome in a way that required a bit of work from the ...
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Metaphor, simile, or idiom for stating that something improved one’s self-confidence
What’s a nice and quirky metaphor, simile, or idiom for saying that something improved my self-confidence and made me dream higher, for example in the following context?
These competitions not only ...
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What does "stepping over the necks of peasants" mean here?
While a Chinese friend of mine was reading the story, The Standard of Living by Dorothy Parker, she came across this sentence:
Annabel and Midge passed without the condescension of hurrying their
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What did we say for "it's like riding a bicycle" before we had bicycles?
Riding my bicycle the other day, I thought "having learned how to ride a bicycle in the past, for me the experience of riding a bicycle is just like riding a bicycle." And then I thought, what did we ...
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Is it possible to use "as" in a metaphor?
Ive seen a lot of places saying anything with "like" or "as" is ALWAYS a simile but are there any exceptions? E.g.
1) I am as sly as a fox - simile
2) I am a bird that flies high in the sky - ...
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Colorful English equivalent for the French expression "mine de capitaine"
Is there a colorful expression in English which equates to the French [avoir] une mine de capitaine? (Literally, to sport skipper's [glowing, healthy] looks)
It is something that we say to someone ...
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A phrase to describe the external spreading phase of some infection?
I believe that some types of fungal/viral/other infections have a life cycle in which they kill a host entity (possibly plant or animal), and then around that time they also "bloom" or "erupt" from ...
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Idiom/phrase for someone that looks completely different from everyone else
I swear, there's a phrase (a simile) I hear a lot that describes when someone just appears different from everyone else in a given crowd or location.
For example, (and I'm trying to be as sensitive ...
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Describe a person who brags about difficulties
I am looking for a commonly used phrase, idiom, or simile that describes people who like to talk (brag?) about their difficulties, especially self inflicted or easily avoidable ones, as if having ...
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What is a better way of saying "building a building"?
My sentence is "Creating Software is akin to building a building". This sounds weird and I am looking for a better way to phrase this analogy.
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Help explain what “miseries were as vast as the sky” mean [closed]
I'm totally confused about the use of this phrase in this situation:
After Margaret Sanger saw the worst of many women who had to do abortion with abortionists, they suffered from physical pains ...
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Do these 2 paragraphs contain a metaphor anywhere?
"My memory is like a film. That is why I am really good at remembering
things, like conversations I have written down in this book, and what people were wearing, and what they smelled like, because ...
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Is it still a metaphor if you say "if X was Y" first? [duplicate]
I was inspired to ask by the famous John Green quote:
if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane
Is this a metaphor? Without the "if people were rain" it would be, certainly, but ...
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Word / simile for a city in decay or in lawlessness
My friend told me that Kobe is the only city in Japan in which he saw hobos and where there are no rules for walking on the sidewalk. I flippantly asked him whether it was the Sodom or Gomorrah of ...
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Is "fly like a bird" an example of collocation? [closed]
Is the simile phrase:
flying like a bird
an example of collocation, with the close ‘expected’ relationship between flying and bird?
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Not using 'like' for similes --- where does this come from? [closed]
I just got back some feedback on a piece of work of mine from a proofreader. One of his comments is that I use like in similes a lot, and I shouldn't do that --- I should be using as if instead; he ...
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Difference between a Metaphor and a Simile [duplicate]
I know a metaphor compares two similar things, like a ballerina glides like a swan and that a simile compares two unlike things, but I'm still not sure if the sentence, "The car guzzles fuel." would ...
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Why does a Cheshire cat grin, and how long has it been doing so?
Most people are familiar with the expression "grin like a Cheshire cat" from Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (1865), which goes so far as to provide a glimpse of the grin without the cat....
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Simile dilemma: Do leaves "fly like butterflies"? [closed]
Leaves from the ground fly like butterflies .
What are the leaves being compared to?
flies
butterflies
ground
other leaves
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