View source for Simile

{{short description|Figure of speech marked by explicit comparison}}
{{distinguish|Smile}}
[[File:Madonna-like-a-virgin-sire-6.jpg|thumb|The [[Madonna]] album ''[[Like a Virgin (album)|Like a Virgin]]'', in whose [[Like a Virgin (song)|title track]] the narrative persona uses a simile, professing to be experiencing an erotic relationship "like a virgin".]]
A '''simile''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|m|əl|i}}) is a type of [[figure of speech]] that directly ''compares'' two things.<ref name="Bedford447">{{Cite book|title=The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms|publisher=Bedford/St. Martins|year=2003|isbn=978-0312259105|edition=2nd|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bedfordglossaryo00murf_2/page/447 447–448]|url=https://archive.org/details/bedfordglossaryo00murf_2/page/447}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=Simile|url=http://literaryterms.net/simile/|website=Literary Terms|date=22 June 2015|access-date=6 April 2016|language=en-US}}</ref> It is usually understood specifically to entail ''figurative'' comparison:<ref name=":1">Michael Israel, Jennifer Riddle Harding, and Vera Tobin, "[https://terpconnect.umd.edu/~israel/Israel&al-Simile.pdf On Simile]", in ''Language, Culture, and Mind'', edited by Michel Achard and Suzanne Kemmer (CSLI Publications, 2004), pp. 123–35.</ref> thus "a wolf is like a dog" is merely a literal comparison, whereas the figurative "a man is like a wolf" is a simile.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cameron |first=Lynne |title=Metaphor in educational discourse |date=2003 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=978-0-8264-4939-9 |series=Advances in applied linguistics |location=London}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=74}} In the words of Michael Israel, Jennifer Riddle Harding, and Vera Tobin, "basically, a simile is just a way of describing a target by asserting its similarity to some unexpected entity".<ref name=":1" />{{Reference page|page=126}}

In English, similes are often made explicit by the word "like", as in "Odysseus is like a weasel", but the comparison in a simile can be made explicit in quite different ways, as in "the retirement of Yves Saint Laurent is the fashion equivalent of the breakup of the Beatles". Sometimes, extra information is included to explain precisely how the comparison is intended to work, as in "my kitchen is approximately ''the size of'' a postage stamp".<ref name=":1" />

== Definition ==
Similes are often compared (or contrasted) with [[metaphor]]s. Similes compare two things explicitly, in English often using the words "like" or "as", whereas metaphors often create an implicit comparison (i.e., saying something "is" something else). Thus ''Odysseus is a weasel'' is a metaphor, while ''Odysseus is like a weasel'' is a simile.<ref name=":1" />{{Reference page|page=128}}

However, there are two schools of thought regarding the relationship between similes and metaphors. The first defines them as opposites, such that a statement cannot be both a simile and a metaphor — if it uses a comparison word such as "like" then it is a simile; if not, it is a metaphor.<ref name="Bedford447" /><ref name="m340MWDictionary">{{cite web |title=Metaphor Definition & Meaning: Simile vs. Metaphor |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metaphor#note-2 |access-date=4 July 2019 |website=[[Merriam-Webster]]}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=LitCharts |url=https://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms/simile}}</ref> The second school considers metaphor to be the broader category, in which similes are a subcategory — according to which every simile is also a metaphor (but not vice-versa).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00mcar/page/652/mode/2up?view=theater |title=The Oxford companion to the English language |date=1992 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-214183-5 |editor-last=McArthur |editor-first=Tom |location=Oxford; New York |pages=653}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-21 |title=Simile vs. Metaphor: What's the Difference? |url=https://www.grammarly.com/blog/whats-the-difference-between-a-simile-and-a-metaphor/ |access-date=2024-07-05 |website=Simile vs. Metaphor: What’s the Difference? {{!}} Grammarly |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=Aug 24, 2021 |title=What's the Difference Between Metaphor, Simile, and Analogy? |url=https://www.masterclass.com/articles/metaphor-similie-and-analogy-differences-and-similarities |access-date=Jul 5, 2024 |website=MasterClass}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=Apr 2, 2023 |title=What is a Metaphor — Definition and Examples |url=https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-metaphor-definition/ |access-date=Jul 5, 2024 |website=StudioBinder |publisher=YouTube |at=4:00 mark in the video}}</ref> These two schools reflect differing definitions and usages of the word "metaphor" and regardless of whether it encompasses similes, both agree that similes always involve a direct comparison word such as "like" or "as".

The word ''simile'' derives from the Latin word ''similis'' ("similar, like"), while ''metaphor'' derives from the Greek word ''metapherein'' ("to transfer").<ref name="m340MWDictionary" /> As in the case of metaphors, the thing that is being compared is called the tenor, and the thing it is being compared to is called the vehicle.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://englishlikeanative.co.uk/what-is-a-simile-with-definition-and-examples/|title=What Is A Simile?|website=English Like A Native|access-date=2021-02-21}}</ref> Author and lexicographer [[Frank J. Wilstach]] compiled a dictionary of similes in 1916, with a second edition in 1924.

== Uses ==

=== In literature ===
Sometimes similes and metaphors function in much the same way, as in "O My {{notatypo|Luve's}} like a red, red rose" in the [[Robert Burns]] poem "[[A Red, Red Rose]]":<ref name="Bedford447" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/pageturner.cfm?id=87802826|title=A Red Red Rose|last=Burns|first=Robert|website=Glen Collection of Printed Music, Vol. 5|publisher=National Library of Scotland|page=415|access-date=2016-04-06}}</ref> this could be turned into the metaphor "my love is a red rose" without confusing the reader. However, because similes are explicit, it is possible for them to be more elaborate than metaphors while remaining comprehensible,<ref name=":1" /> as in the following examples:
* [[John Milton]], ''[[Paradise Lost]]'', a [[Homeric simile]]:<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms|last1=Murfin|first1=Ross|last2=Ray|first2=Supryia M.|publisher=Bedford/St. Martins|year=2003|isbn=978-0312259105|edition=2nd|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bedfordglossaryo00murf_2/page/135 135]|url=https://archive.org/details/bedfordglossaryo00murf_2/page/135}}</ref><blockquote><poem>::As when a prowling Wolf, ::Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey, ::Watching where Shepherds pen their Flocks at eve ::In hurdl'd Cotes amid the field secure, ::Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the Fold: ::. . . . . . . ::So clomb this first grand Thief into God's Fold<ref name="MiltonTodd1852">{{cite book|last=Milton|first=John|editor=Henry John Todd|title=The Poetical Works of John Milton: With Notes of Various Authors; and with Some Account of the Life and Writings of Milton, Derived Principally from Original Documents in Her Majesty's State-paper Office|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3jU-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA62|year=1852|publisher=Rivingtons, Longman and Company|page=62}}</ref></poem></blockquote>
* [[William Shakespeare]], ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'':
::How far that little candle throws his beams!
::So shines a good deed in a naughty world.<ref name="Scott and Bascom">{{cite book|editor=William Hall|title=Encyclopædia of English Grammar: Designed for the Use of Schools, Academies, and Private Learners|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lxhEAQAAMAAJ|year=1850|publisher=Scott and Bascom|page=352}}</ref>

::Stopping her from going was like trying to catch a bullet with a pair of tweasers, impossible.<ref name="Scott and Bascom"/>

::Learning to drive was like a deer learning how to walk for the first time. Stumbling until you get it right.<ref name="Scott and Bascom"/>
Authors sometimes use similes to establish a comparison explicitly, using metaphors thereafter once the comparison has been established<ref>{{Cite book |last=Low |first=Graham |title=Researching and Applying Metaphor in the Real World |publisher=Benjamins |year=2010 |isbn=9789027223807 |editor-last=Deignan |editor-first=Alice |series=Human Cognitive Processing, 26 |location=Amsterdam |pages=295 |chapter=Wot no similes? The curious absence of simile in university lectures |doi=10.1075/hcp.26.17low |editor-last2=Low |editor-first2=Graham |editor-last3=Cameron |editor-first3=Lynne |editor-last4=Todd |editor-first4=Zazie}}</ref> (the same process can happen in everyday conversations, either with the metaphor or the simile coming first).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marhula |first=Joanna |date=2018-01-01 |title=“It’s like herding butterflies”: Simile-type comparisons and the interplay between similes and metaphors in radio discourse |url=https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/msw.17002.mar |journal=Metaphor and the Social World |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=64–80 |doi=10.1075/msw.17002.mar |issn=2210-4070|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{Reference page|pages=71–75}}

=== In comedy ===
Similes are used extensively in British comedy, notably in the [[slapstick]] era of the 1960s and 1970s. In comedy, the simile is often used in negative style: "he was as daft as a brush." They are also used in a comedic context where a sensitive subject is broached, and the comedian will test the audience with a response to a subtle implicit simile before going deeper.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.funnysimiles.com/what_is_a_simile.html|title=What Is A Simile?|website=Funny Similes!|access-date=2016-04-06}}{{Dead link|date=February 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The sitcom ''[[Blackadder]]'' featured the use of extended similes, normally said by the title character. For example:
::Baldrick: I have a plan, sir.
::Blackadder: Really, Baldrick? A cunning and subtle one?
::Baldrick: Yes, sir.
::Blackadder: As cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University?<ref>{{Cite web |last=Edmund_Blackadder |date=2016-05-02 |title=Blackadder Series 4 Episode 6 Goodbyeee Full Script |url=https://blackadderquotes.com/blackadder-series-4-episode-6-goodbyeee-full-script |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240108085153/https://blackadderquotes.com/blackadder-series-4-episode-6-goodbyeee-full-script |archive-date=8 January 2024 |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=Blackadder Quotes |language=en-US}}</ref>

== In languages other than English ==

Given that similes emphasize affinities between different objects, they occur in many cultures and languages.

=== Arabic ===
[[Sayf al-Din al-Amidi]] discussed Arabic similes in 1805: [http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2981 "On Substantiation Through Transitive Relations"].

=== Vietnamese ===

Thuy Nga Nguyen and [[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]] (2012) classify Vietnamese similes into two types: Meaning Similes and Rhyming Similes.

The following is an example:
{{interlinear|indent=3
|'''Nghèo''' như con '''mèo'''
|/'''ŋɛu''' ɲɯ kɔn '''mɛu'''/
|"Poor as a cat"}}

Whereas the above Vietnamese example is of a '''rhyming''' simile, the English simile "(as) poor as a church mouse" is only a '''semantic''' simile.<ref>See p. 98 in Thuy Nga Nguyen and [[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]] (2012), "Stupid as a Coin: Meaning and Rhyming Similes in Vietnamese", ''International Journal of Language Studies'' 6 (4), pp. 97-118.</ref>

== See also ==
{{Wiktionary category|category=English similes|type=similes}}
* [[Alliteration]]
* [[Analogy]]
* [[Description]]
* [[Figure of speech]]
* [[Homeric simile]]
* [[Hyperbole]]
* [[Hypocatastasis]]
* [[Like#Comparisons|Like (as a preposition used in comparisons)]]
* [[Metaphor]]
* [[Metonymy]]
* [[Personification]]
* [[Phono-semantic matching]]
* [[Tautology (language)]]
* [[Va tacito e nascosto#Simile aria|Simile aria]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Michael Israel, Jennifer Riddle Harding, and Vera Tobin, "[https://terpconnect.umd.edu/~israel/Israel&al-Simile.pdf On Simile]", in ''Language, Culture, and Mind'', edited by Michel Achard and Suzanne Kemmer (CSLI Publications, 2004), pp. 123–35.
*{{cite book |last1=Beck |first1=Deborah |title=The stories of similes in Greek and Roman epic |date=2023 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge; New York |isbn=9781108481793}}

== External links ==

* [https://englishgrammarsoft.com/what-is-a-simile-examples/ Examples of Simile in Literature]

{{Figures of speech}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Figures of speech]]
[[Category:Narrative techniques]]
[[Category:Descriptive technique]]
[[Category:Comparisons]]