simile

A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, usually by employing the words "like" or "as".^[1]

Unlike a metaphor, a simile can be as precise as the user needs it to be, to explicitly predicate a single feature of a target or to vaguely predicate an under-determined and open-ended body of features. Empirical research supports the observation that similes are more likely to be used with explicit explanations of their intended meaning;^[2] this offers some support to the claim that similes are preferred if a user wants to associate an unusual or out-of-the-ordinary property with a target.^{[clarification needed]}

For a list of words relating to similes, see the English similes category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Uses

In literature

Similes are widely used in literature for their expressive nature:

• Curley was flopping like a fish on a line.^[3]
• The very mist on the Essex marshes was like a gauzy and radiant fabric.^[4]
• Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus.^[5]

Dickens, in the opening to 'A Christmas Carol', says "But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile."

Using 'like'

A simile can explicitly provide the basis of a comparison or leave this basis implicit. In the implicit case, characterized by the use of 'like' to connect the two ideas, the simile leaves an audience to determine for themselves which features of the target are being predicated:

• She is like a dynamo.
• For He is like a refiner's fire.
• Her eyes twinkled like stars
• He fights like a lion.
• He runs like a cheetah.

Using 'as'

The use of as makes the simile explicit, by clearly stating the feature predicated of the target:

• She walks as gracefully as a cat.
• He was as brave as a lion in fight.
• He was as tough as a bull.
• He was as smart as an owl.
• She was as busy as a bee.
• He was as Cool as Conan

Without 'like' or 'as'

Similes are sometimes made without using the words "like" or "as". This often occurs when making comparisons of differing values:^[6]

• "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate:" – William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18
• "I'm happier than a tornado in a trailer park." – Mater, Cars
• "How this Herculean Roman does become / The carriage of his chafe." - William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra' Act I, sc. 3.

See also

• Analogy
• Description
• Metaphor
• Hypocatastasis
• Figure of speech

References