analogous

adjective

anal·​o·​gous ə-ˈna-lə-gəs 

: similar or comparable to something else either in general or in some specific detail

Timbre in music is analogous to color in painting.

—Aaron Copland

An airplane's joystick is somewhat analogous to the reins on a horse.

: similar in a way that invites comparison : showing an analogy or a likeness that permits one to draw an analogy

a town council and a government body that serves an analogous function

analogously adverb

analogousness noun

Synonyms

• akin
• alike
• cognate
• comparable
• connate
• correspondent
• corresponding
• ditto
• like
• matching
• parallel
• resemblant
• resembling
• similar
• such
• suchlike

Choose the Right Synonym for analogous

similar, analogous, parallel mean closely resembling each other.

similar implies the possibility of being mistaken for each other.

all the houses in the development are similar

analogous applies to things belonging in essentially different categories but nevertheless having many similarities.

analogous political systems

parallel suggests a marked likeness in the development of two things.

the parallel careers of two movie stars

Examples of analogous in a Sentence

… gluons, force particles analogous to the photons of electromagnetism. —Andrew Watson, Science, 22 Jan. 1999

… great stretches of algae, analogous to terrestrial woodlands, in which kelp fills the role of trees. —William K. Stevens, New York Times, 5 Jan. 1999

… not by means superior to, though analogous with, human reason … —Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, 1859

Recent Examples on the Web

The league maintains the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Third, Seventh, Tenth and Eleventh Circuits have held that consumers in analogous situations to Salazar suffered no concrete harm when the transmission was non-public. —Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 20 Mar. 2025

Nothing in the founding-era legal landscape is analogous to the challenged law. —Dara Kam, Orlando Sentinel, 17 Mar. 2025

Harmonious or analogous colors are those that appear next to one another on the color wheel, such as red and orange, orange and yellow, yellow and green, green and blue, blue and violet and violet and red. —Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 16 Mar. 2025

The experts recommend that organizations looking to adopt Manus or analogous systems must take proper precautionary measures including: Keep Humans in the Loop: Never outsource vital decisions to AI. —Tor Constantino, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Latin analogus "proportionate" (Medieval Latin, "conforming to analogy") + -ous; analogus borrowed from Greek análogos "proportionate, conformable," parasynthetic derivative from anà lógon "proportionately," from aná "up, throughout" + lógon, accusative of lógos "word, speech, relation, correspondence, proportion" — more at ana-, legend

First Known Use

1646, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

analogous

adjective

anal·​o·​gous ə-ˈnal-ə-gəs 

1

: showing analogy : similar

the two stories are analogous

2

: related by analogy

analogously adverb

analogousness noun

Medical Definition

analogous

adjective

anal·​o·​gous ə-ˈnal-ə-gəs 

: having similar function but a different structure and origin

analogous organs