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Recent Examples of dead metaphor
Many of our emotion terms are references to states of the body—we’re downcast, bent out of shape, head over heels, shaken up, down in the mouth—which have slowly rigidified into dead metaphor.
—
Nikhil Krishnan, The New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2022
This shift reminds us that dead metaphors aren’t always terminally dead.
—Rob Nixon, Smithsonian, 23 Mar. 2018
Nikhil Krishnan, The New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2022
This shift reminds us that dead metaphors aren’t always terminally dead.
—Rob Nixon, Smithsonian, 23 Mar. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dead metaphor
Noun
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Finally, the correct authenticator code word matched what was in my hands.—
Steve Koester,
Twin Cities,
7 Feb. 2025
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This isn’t the first time online communities have attempted to use phrases or code words to organize.—
CT Jones,
Rolling Stone,
3 Feb. 2025
Noun
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After sixteen months of watching a genocide happen in real time—with more-or-less total support from Western governments, despite the euphemisms and justifications skillfully woven by headlines and political speeches—the contradiction is becoming harder to ignore.—
Hazlitt,
Hazlitt,
27 Feb. 2025
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Finally, liquid bat guano and liquid earthworm castings (guano and castings are euphemisms for excrement) are also utilized for foliar fertilization.—
Joshua Siskin,
Orange County Register,
14 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Then, the host himself started getting into the act and making some analogy between Survivor and pineapple pizza and how some people might not think pineapple on a pizza is a good thing.—
Dalton Ross,
EW.com,
27 Feb. 2025
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This contradicts the classic anthropomorphic analogies of Disney’s Pinocchio and Dumbo, as well as The Little Prince, The Iron Giant, Babe and Babe: Pig in the City, and Zack Snyder’s astonishing Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole.—
Armond White,
National Review,
26 Feb. 2025
Noun
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With his calm demeanor and distinctive baritone, Biggie exhibited a rare talent for painting pictures with his bars, delivering a complex rhyme scheme of double entendres and metaphors that has kept him on the Mount Rushmore of rap for any true connoisseur of the genre.—
Shirley Halperin for The Hollywood Reporter,
Robb Report,
1 Mar. 2025
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The island locale is integral to the collection, acting as a metaphor for luxury, isolation, and indulgence.—
Shivani Vora,
Forbes,
1 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Her father was a scientist and worked for NASA, so her work, including The Body’s Question and Life on Mars, is infused with the cosmos and space and all these metaphors and similes tied to the most mysterious places in the universe.—
Lisa Wong Macabasco,
Vogue,
22 Feb. 2025
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Fight analyst Dan Hardy used an interesting simile to explain the key difference between the two title fighters in Saturday night's main event at UFC 312 as middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis puts his title on the line against former champion Sean Strickland.—
Thomas G. Moukawsher,
Newsweek,
5 Feb. 2025
Articles Related to dead metaphor
Cite this Entry
“Dead metaphor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dead%20metaphor. Accessed 11 Mar. 2025.
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