as in code word
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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.
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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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The 22-year-old posted a picture on social media with a meeting room white board in the background and, on the white board, code words for plays used by the Lions were included in the photo.Andy Scholes, CNN, 5 Dec. 2024
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Merchant allegedly used fabric weights as code words for different parts of the crime.Anders Hagstrom, Fox News, 11 Sep. 2024
Noun
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Tax complexity has become a euphemism for tax evasion for a price ordinary taxpayers cannot afford.Armstrong Williams, Baltimore Sun, 18 Nov. 2024
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What perfectly plausible scenario happens in this movie, and why does its title sound like a euphemism for something very dirty?Laura Bradley, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2024
Noun
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To simplify the analogy, Villa are underperforming at both the start and end of games.Jacob Tanswell, The Athletic, 31 Dec. 2024
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In the special, Sloss shares his father’s analogy that life is a jigsaw puzzle and love is a missing interior piece.Colson Thayer, People.com, 28 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Last Voyage turns the chilling interlude into a slow-moving slasher, neither acknowledging the book’s metaphor of a ship bringing plague nor indulging in the inherent paranoia of its claustrophobic surroundings.Celia Mattison, Vulture, 27 Dec. 2024
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These worlds — where survival, cooperation and competition are key modes of engagement — are becoming metaphors for our complex realities as technology continues to reconstitute the human experience.Anisha Sircar, Forbes, 27 Dec. 2024
Noun
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These circumstances conducive to socialization are most obviously available for young people on athletic teams, but the sports simile is easily applicable to young people in marching band, theater productions, student council, volunteer and community settings and the robotics club.Jeff Nelligan, Baltimore Sun, 4 Dec. 2024
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Later, when asked about his evolution as a coach, Harbaugh described himself as open to change and used a mall-entrance simile to make his point.Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Dead metaphor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dead%20metaphor. Accessed 4 Jan. 2025.
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