analogy
noun
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Digging Into the Most Common Meaning of Analogy
In its most common use, analogy has to do with comparison of things based on those things being alike in some way. For example, one can make or draw an analogy between the seasons of the year and the stages of life. People also reason by way of analogy, asserting, for example, that abandoning a project is like leaving a house partway built. Although an analogy can be summarized quickly, as in these examples, an analogy actually encompasses the comparison or inference itself, and is therefore different from figures of speech, like metaphors and similes, which are forms of expression.
Some tests ask you to identify analogies, finding the second of a pair that has the same relationship as a completed pair. Analogy tests often look like this:
ice : cold :: steel : ____
a. hard b. loud c. fresh d. small
Because the relationship between ice and cold is that coldness is a quality of ice, the word that goes with steel is hard, since hardness is a quality of steel.
The word analogy (which comes from analogous) traces back by way of Latin to a Greek word meaning "proportionate." That word has a root in the Greek word logos, meaning "reason."
Examples of analogy in a Sentence
Tony Judt, New York Book Review, 10 Apr. 2003
People who do this call themselves "white-hat" hackers—good people who show other people their vulnerabilities. Take the following analogy: I've designed a great new lock pick, and I'm going to give this great new gadget away to show everyone that the typical door lock is ineffective against my new pick.
—John C. Dvorak, PC Magazine, 4 Apr. 2000
It has often been said that movie stars are the royalty of America. (The better analogy, really, is that the royals are the movie stars of Britain.)
—Neal Gabler, Life: The Movie, 1998
Parts of the far-infrared sky look like colonies of spiders gone mad. The fine structure seen there is called cirrus, by analogy with filamentary clouds on Earth.
—Virginia Trimble et al., Sky & Telescope, January 1995
Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 4 Nov. 2024
But the analogy to the entertainment industry breaks apart on the matter of what the fans are paying for.
—Geoff Colvin, Fortune, 2 Nov. 2024
To go back to the public bus system analogy, specialized requests like data centers and EV charging networks are essentially asking for special stops on the route.
—Greg Robinson, Forbes, 1 Nov. 2024
The straw analogy will work to get water up about 20 or 30 feet.
—Paul Cappiello, The Courier-Journal, 1 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for analogy 
Dictionary Entries Near analogy
Cite this Entry
“Analogy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/analogy. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
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