A list of metaphors in the English language organised alphabetically by type. A
metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
is a literary
figure of speech
A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from straightforward language use or Denotation, literal meaning to produce a rhetorical or intensified effect (emotionally, aesthetically, intellectually, et ...
that uses an image, story or
tangible
Tangibility is the property of being able to be perceived, especially by the sense of touch. Metaphorically, something can also be said to be "cognitively tangible" if one can easily understand it.
Law
In criminal law, one of the elements of ...
thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels". ''Metaphor'' may also be used for any
rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
al
figures of speech
A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from straightforward language use or literal meaning to produce a rhetorical or intensified effect (emotionally, aesthetically, intellectually, etc.). In the ...
that achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance. In this broader sense,
antithesis
Antithesis (: antitheses; Greek for "setting opposite", from "against" and "placing") is used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introd ...
,
hyperbole
Hyperbole (; adj. hyperbolic ) is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. In rhetoric, it is also sometimes known as auxesis (literally 'growth'). In poetry and oratory, it emphasizes, evokes strong feelings, and cre ...
,
metonymy
Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word " suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such as sales ...
and
simile
A simile () is a type of figure of speech that directly ''compares'' two things. Similes are often contrasted with metaphors, where similes necessarily compare two things using words such as "like", "as", while metaphors often create an implicit c ...
would all be considered types of metaphor.
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
used both this sense and the regular, current sense above.
[''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) pp.653–55: "A rhetorical figure with two senses, both originating with Aristotle in the 4c BC: (I) All figures of speech that achieve their effects through association, comparison and resemblance. Figures like antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy and simile are n that senseall species of metaphor. utthis sense is not current, ..."]
With metaphor, unlike
analogy
Analogy is a comparison or correspondence between two things (or two groups of things) because of a third element that they are considered to share.
In logic, it is an inference or an argument from one particular to another particular, as oppose ...
, specific interpretations are not given explicitly.
Animals
*
800-pound gorilla
*
Albatross (metaphor)
*
Song bird (metaphor)
*
Belling the cat
*
Blind men and an elephant
The parable of the blind men and an elephant is a story of a group of blind men who have never come across an elephant before and who learn and imagine what the elephant is like by touching it. Each blind man feels a different part of the animal ...
*
Boiling frog
The boiling frog is an apologue describing a frog being slowly death by boiling, boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a bo ...
*
Butterfly effect
In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.
The term is closely associated w ...
*
Camel's nose
*
Canary in the coal mine
Sentinel species are organisms, often animals, used to detect risks to humans by providing advance warning of a danger. The terms primarily apply in the context of Environmental hazard, environmental hazards rather than those from other sources ...
*
Chicken or the egg
The chicken or the egg causality dilemma is commonly stated as the question, "which came first: the chicken or the egg?" The dilemma stems from the observation that all chickens hatch from eggs and all chicken eggs are laid by chickens. "Chicke ...
*
Dead cat bounce
In finance, a dead cat bounce is a small, brief recovery in the price of a declining asset. Derived from the idea that "even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height", the phrase is also popularly applied to any case where a subject ...
*
Duck trick
*
Elephant in the room
*
Beating a dead horse
Flogging a dead horse (or beating a dead horse in American English) is an idiom meaning that a particular effort is futile.
Early usage
The expression is said to have been popularized by the English politician and orator John Bright. Speaking ...
*
Four Asian Tigers
The Four Asian Tigers ( the Four Asian Dragons or Four Little Dragons in Chinese and Korean) are the developed Asian economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. Between the early 1950s and 1990s, they underwent rapid industrializ ...
*
His Eye is on the Sparrow
*
Letting the cat out of the bag
*
Mama grizzly
''Mama grizzly'' is a term that former U.S. vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin coined to refer to herself that has since been applied to female candidates she supported or endorsed in the 2010 midterm elections, 2010 U. ...
*
Monkey see, monkey do
*
Ostrich effect
The ostrich effect, also known as the ostrich problem, was originally coined by Dan Galai and Orly Sade. The name comes from the common (but false) legend that ostriches bury their heads in the sand to avoid danger. This effect is a cognitive bias ...
*
Reverse ferret
In British media, a reverse ferret is a sudden reversal in an organisation's editorial or political line on a certain issue. Generally, this will involve no acknowledgement of the previous position.
The term originates in the United Kingdom, from ...
*
Seeing pink elephants
*
The Sheep and the Goats
The Sheep and the Goats or "the Judgement of the Nations" is a pronouncement of Jesus recorded in chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew, through which Jesus strongly encourages his followers to take action to help those in need.
With this speech ...
*
Snake venom
Snake venom is a highly toxic saliva containing zootoxins that facilitates in the immobilization and digestion of prey. This also provides defense against threats. Snake venom is usually injected by unique fangs during a Snakebite, bite, though ...
*
Spherical cow
file:SphericalCow2.gif, Comic of a spherical cow as illustrated by a 1996 meeting of the American Astronomical Association, in reference to astronomy modeling
The spherical cow is a humour, humorous metaphor for highly idealization (philosophy of ...
*
Throw to the wolves
*
Turkeys voting for Christmas
*
Turtles all the way down
*
White elephant
A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of without extreme difficulty, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, ...
*
Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?
*
You have two cows
*
Shaving a cat with no hair
Body parts
*
Broken heart
A broken heart (also known as heartbreak or heartache) is a metaphor for the intense emotional stress or pain one feels at experiencing great loss or deep longing. The concept is cross-cultural, often cited with reference to unreciprocated o ...
*
Cold feet
''Cold Feet'' is a British comedy-drama television series produced by Granada Television for the ITV (TV network), ITV network. The series was created and principally written by Mike Bullen as a follow-up to his 1997 Comedy Premieres, Comedy ...
*
Heart (symbol)
The heart symbol is an ideograph used to express the idea of the "heart" in its heart (metaphor), metaphorical or symbolic sense. Represented by an anatomy, anatomically inaccurate shape, the heart symbol is often used to represent the center of ...
Nautical
* ''Taken aback'', on a sailing vessel the sails were 'taken aback' when the wind was unintentionally blowing on the wrong side of the sails causing a potentially dangerous situation. Later used to indicate a difficult or unexpected situation.
* ''Batten down the hatches'', to secure the hatch covers against ingress of water in preparation for a storm or other rough conditions.
* ''Clear the decks'' to get everything out of the way as a warship went into action.
[
* ''Show someone the ropes'' to show or explain to someone how to do a task or operation. Taken from the use of ropes to orient and adjust the sails, and that each rope is belayed at a specific place.
* ''Sail close to the wind'' is to operate hazardously on very slim margins, usually applied in a financial sense. Derived from the practice of sailing close to the direction of the oncoming wind, where a small shift in the wrong direction could set the vessel aback.
* ''Loaded to the gunwales''
* ''Back and fill''
* ''On one's beam ends''
* ''Awash''
* ''Adrift''
* ''A wide berth''
* '']Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...
''
* ''Unmoored''
* ''Nail one's colors to the mast'', to commit completely to a course of action, as ''striking the colors'' is no longer an option
* ''Flying the flag''
* ''Plain sailing''
* '' With flying colors'' - the colors was the national flag flown at sea during battle, a ship would surrender by lowering the colors and the term is now used to indicate a triumphant victory or win.[
* ''In the doldrums''
* ''All hands to the pumps''
* ''Weathering a storm''
* ''A different tack''
* ''Swinging the lead'' is to avoid duty by feigning illness or injury, original a confusion between ''Swing the leg'' which related to the way dogs can run on three legs to gain sympathy and the sailor's term ''heaving the lead'' which was to take soundings.][
* ''Left high and dry''
* '' Three sheets to the wind'', meaning "staggering drunk," refers to a ship whose sheets have come loose, causing the sails to flap uncontrolled and the ship to meander at the mercy of the elements. Also, "Three sheets in the wind, unsteady from drink."]
Objects
* Big red button
* Brass ring
* Brass monkey
*Bucket brigade
A bucket brigade or human chain is a method for transporting items where items are passed from one (relatively stationary) person to the next.
The method was important in firefighting before the advent of hand-pumped fire engines, whereby fire ...
*Chain reaction
A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events.
Chain reactions are one way that sys ...
*Chinese fire drill
"Chinese fire drill" is a predominantly American slang term for a situation that is chaotic or confusing, possibly due to poor or misunderstood instructions. It may also be known as a Polish fire drill or, increasingly, simply as a fire drill.
Th ...
*Cultural mosaic
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, attitudes, and habits of the individuals in these g ...
*Domino effect
A domino effect is the cumulative effect produced when one event sets off a series of similar or related events, a form of chain reaction. The term is an analogy to a falling row of dominoes. It typically refers to a linked sequence of events ...
* Don't judge a book by its cover
*Holy Grail
The Holy Grail (, , , ) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenanc ...
* Inverted pyramid
*Law of the instrument
The law of the instrument, law of the hammer, Maslow's hammer, or golden hammer is a cognitive bias that involves an over-reliance on a familiar tool. Abraham Maslow wrote in 1966, "it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat ...
*Melting pot
A melting pot is a Monoculturalism, monocultural metaphor for a wiktionary:heterogeneous, heterogeneous society becoming more wiktionary:homogeneous, homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" with a common culture; an alternative bei ...
*Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is a stele of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a Rosetta Stone decree, decree issued in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty of ancient Egypt, Egypt, on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts ...
*Silver bullet
Silver Bullet(s) or The Silver Bullet may refer to:
* Silver bullet, in folklore, a weapon against supernatural creatures; metaphorically, a simple, effective solution to a problem
Film and television
* The Silver Bullet (1935 film), ''The Silve ...
*Snowball effect
A snowball effect is a process that starts from an initial state of small significance and builds upon itself (an exacerbating feedback), becoming larger (graver, more serious), and also perhaps potentially more dangerous or disastrous (a vicio ...
*Soapbox
A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden crate originally used for shipment ...
*Zanata Stone
The Zanata Stone (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Piedra Zanata''), also known as the Zenata Stone, is a small engraving, engraved stone. The Berber architecture, tablet is purported to be of Guanche language, Guanche origin. It was found in 1992 nea ...
* A big chair
* A sailboat
People
*Aunt Sally
Aunt Sally is a traditional England, English game usually played in Pub game, pub gardens and fairgrounds, in which players throw sticks or battens at a ball, known as a 'dolly', balanced on top of a stick; traditionally, a model of an old woma ...
*Cassandra (metaphor)
The Cassandra metaphor (variously labeled the Cassandra "syndrome", "complex", "phenomenon", "predicament", "dilemma", "curse") relates to a person whose valid warnings or concerns are disbelieved by others.
The term originates in Greek mytholo ...
* Copernican Revolution (metaphor)
* Hobson's choice
*Judgment of Solomon
The Judgement of Solomon is a story from the Old Testament in which Solomon ruled between two women who both claimed to be the mother of a child. Solomon ordered the baby be cut in half, with each woman to receive one half. The first woman accept ...
*Mary Sue
A Mary Sue is a type of fictional character, usually a young woman, who is portrayed as free of weaknesses or character flaws. The character type has acquired a pejorative reputation in fan communities, with the label "Mary Sue" often applie ...
* Procrustes
*Whipping boy
A whipping boy was a boy educated alongside a prince (or boy monarch) in early modern Europe, who supposedly received corporal punishment for the prince's transgressions in his presence. The prince was not punished himself because his royal sta ...
* Aunt Flow
*Uncle Sam
Uncle Sam (with the same initials as ''United States'') is a common national personification of the United States, depicting the federal government of the United States, federal government or the country as a whole. Since the early 19th centu ...
Places
*Crossing the Rubicon
The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" is an idiom that means "passing a point of no return". Its meaning comes from allusion to the crossing of the river Rubicon from the north by Julius Caesar in early January 49 BC. The exact date is unknown ...
* wikt:crossroads, a decision point; a turning point or opportunity to change direction, course, or goal.
* Fork in the road (metaphor)
* wikt:grey area, an area or topic that is not one thing or the other, or where the border between two things is fuzzy. See also wikt:fall between two stools
*Ground zero
A hypocenter or hypocentre (), also called ground zero or surface zero, is the point on the Earth's surface directly below a nuclear explosion, meteor air burst, or other mid-air explosion. In seismology, the hypocenter of an earthquake is its p ...
* Mother lode
* Plateau effect
*Podunk
The terms ''podunk'' and ''Podunk Hollow'' in American English denote or describe an insignificant, out-of-the-way, or even completely fictitious town.Nick Bacon. "Podunk After Pratt: Place and Placelessness in East Hartford, CT." In ''Confront ...
*Point of no return
The point of no return (PNR or PONR) is the point beyond which one must continue on one's current course of action because turning back is no longer possible, being too dangerous, physically difficult, or prohibitively expensive to be undertaken. ...
*Slippery slope
In a slippery slope argument, a course of action is rejected because the slippery slope advocate believes it will lead to a chain reaction resulting in an undesirable end or ends. The core of the slippery slope argument is that a specific decisi ...
*Walk to Canossa
The Road to Canossa or Humiliation of Canossa (), or, sometimes, the Walk to Canossa (/''Kanossa'') was the journey of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV to Canossa Castle in 1077, and his subsequent ritual submission there to Pope Gregory VII. I ...
Science
Richard Honeck described three forms of scientific metaphors: "mixed scientific metaphor, the scientific metaphor theme, and the scientific metaphor that redefines a concept from a theory."[Honeck, Richard P. (1980]
''Cognition and figurative language''
pp.405-417
*1959 Valency (linguistics)
In linguistics, valency or valence is the number and type of arguments and complements controlled by a predicate, content verbs being typical predicates. Valency is related, though not identical, to subcategorization and transitivity, which c ...
, by Lucien Tesnière
Lucien Tesnière (; May 13, 1893 – December 6, 1954) was a prominent and influential French linguist. He was born in Mont-Saint-Aignan on May 13, 1893. As a senior lecturer at the University of Strasbourg (1924) and later professor at the ...
, from Valence (chemistry)
In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an atom is a measure of its combining capacity with other atoms when it forms chemical compounds or molecules. Valence is generally understood to be the number of chemica ...
(1789, by William Higgins)
*1973 Inductor
An inductor, also called a coil, choke, or reactor, is a Passivity (engineering), passive two-terminal electronic component, electrical component that stores energy in a magnetic field when an electric current flows through it. An inductor typic ...
, by Deleuze
Gilles Louis René Deleuze (18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes o ...
and Guattari, from Electromagnetic induction
Electromagnetic or magnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force, electromotive force (emf) across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field.
Michael Faraday is generally credited with the discovery of induction in 1 ...
(1831, by Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the study of electrochemistry and electromagnetism. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...
)
*1980 Rhizome (philosophy), by Deleuze and Guattari, from botanical rhizome
Sport
*Baseball metaphors for sex
In American slang, baseball metaphors for sex are often used as euphemisms for the degree of physical intimacy achieved in sexual encounters or relationships. In the metaphor, first prevalent in the aftermath of World War II, sexual activities ...
* Carnoustie effect
* Doing a Leeds
*Face-off
A face-off is the method used to begin and restart play after goals in some sports using sticks, primarily ice hockey, bandy, floorball, broomball, rinkball, and lacrosse.
During a face-off, two teams line up in opposition to each other, and the ...
*False start
In sports, a false start is a disallowed start, usually due to a movement by a participant before (or in some cases after) being signaled or otherwise permitted by the rules to start. Depending on the sport and the event, a false start can resu ...
* Jump the Gun
*Media scrum
A media scrum is an improvised press conference, often held immediately outside an event such as a legislative session or meeting. Scrums play a central role in Canadian politics
*Own goal
An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net.
In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...
*Pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
*Political football
A political football is a topic or issue that is seized on by opposing political parties or factions and made a more political issue than it might initially seem to be. "To make a political football" ut of somethingis defined in William Safire ...
* Par for the course
Various
* Aesopian language
* Apollo archetype
*Bad apples
The bad apples metaphor originated as a warning of the corrupting influence of one corrupt or sinful person on a group: that "one bad apple can spoil the barrel". Over time the concept has been used to describe the opposite situation, where "a ...
* Battle of egos
*Betamax
Betamax (also known as Beta, and stylized as the Greek letter Beta, β in its logo) is a discontinued consumer analog Videotape, video cassette recording format developed by Sony. It was one of the main competitors in the videotape format war ag ...
*Bīja
In Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, the Sanskrit term Bīja () (Japanese language, Jp. 種子 ''shuji'') (Chinese language, Chinese 種子 ''zhǒngzǐ''), literally seed, is used as a metaphor for the origin or cause of things and cognate with bindu ...
* Black-and-white dualism
*Bootstrapping
In general, bootstrapping usually refers to a self-starting process that is supposed to continue or grow without external input. Many analytical techniques are often called bootstrap methods in reference to their self-starting or self-supporting ...
* Cabin fever
*Cherry picking (fallacy)
Cherry picking, suppressing evidence, or the fallacy of incomplete evidence is the act of pointing to individual cases or data that seem to confirm a particular position while ignoring a significant portion of related and similar cases or data th ...
* China Syndrome
* City on a Hill
*Closeted
''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for LGBTQ people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior. This metaphor is associated and sometime ...
*Coming out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...
* Drunkard's search
* Enchanted loom
*Endianness
file:Gullivers_travels.jpg, ''Gulliver's Travels'' by Jonathan Swift, the novel from which the term was coined
In computing, endianness is the order in which bytes within a word (data type), word of digital data are transmitted over a data comm ...
* Fatted calf
* Five wisdoms
* Gates of horn and ivory
* Gold in the mine
*Gordian Knot
The cutting of the Gordian Knot is an Ancient Greek legend associated with Alexander the Great in Gordium in Phrygia, regarding a complex knot that tied an oxcart. Reputedly, whoever could untie it would be destined to rule all of Asia. In 33 ...
*Greek to me
That's Greek to me or it's (all) Greek to me is an idiom in English referring to material that the speaker finds difficult or impossible to understand. It is commonly used in reference to a complex or imprecise verbal or written expression, that ...
* Green shoots
*Hue and cry
In common law, a hue and cry is a process by which bystanders are summoned to assist in the apprehension of a criminal who has been witnessed in the act of committing a crime.
History
By the Statute of Winchester of 1285, 13 Edw. 1. St. 2. c. ...
* Hungry ghost
* Indra's net
*Iron (metaphor)
Iron, when used metaphorically, refers to certain traits of the metal iron. Used as an adjective and sometimes as a noun, it refers to something stern, harsh, strong, unyielding, inflexible, rigid, sturdy, strong, robust, hard.''Random House Webste ...
*Jungle
jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past century.
Etymology
The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅgala'' ...
*Kōan
A ( ; ; zh, c=公案, p=gōng'àn ; ; ) is a narrative, story, dialogue, question, or statement from Chan Buddhism, Chinese Chan Buddhist lore, supplemented with commentaries, that is used in Zen Buddhism, Buddhist practice in different way ...
* Late bloomer
* List of scientific metaphors
*McNamara fallacy
The McNamara fallacy (also known as the quantitative fallacy), named for Robert McNamara, the US Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968, involves making a decision based solely on quantitative observations (or metrics) and ignoring all others. ...
*Mindstream
Mindstream (Pali: ''citta-santāna'', Sanskrit: ''citta-saṃtāna;'' Ch: ''xin xiangxu'' 心相續) in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment continuum of sense impressions and mental phenomena ( citta), which is also described as continui ...
* Moral compass
*Musical chairs
Musical chairs, also known as Trip to Jerusalem, is a game of elimination involving players, chairs, and music. It is a staple of many parties worldwide.
Gameplay
A set of chairs is arranged in a circle with one fewer chair than the numbe ...
*The Myth of Sisyphus
''The Myth of Sisyphus'' () is a 1942 Philosophy, philosophical work by Albert Camus. Influenced by philosophers such as Søren Kierkegaard, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche, Camus introduces his philosophy of the absurdism, absurd. T ...
* Neurathian bootstrap
*Nutshell
A nutshell is the outer shell of a nut. Most nutshells are inedible and are removed before eating the nut meat inside. It covers and protects the kernel, which may be edible.
Usage
Most nutshells are useful to some extent, depending on the ci ...
* Panopticon gaze
* Pear-shaped
* Post turtle
* The price of milk
*Ignoratio elenchi
An irrelevant conclusion, also known as or missing the point, is the informal fallacy of presenting an argument whose conclusion fails to address the issue in question. It falls into the broad class of relevance fallacies.
The irrelevant conclus ...
* Invincible ignorance fallacy
* Red pill and blue pill
* Representation (systemics)
*Roof of the World
The Roof of the World or Top of the World is a metaphoric epithet or phrase used to describe the highest region in the world, also known as High Asia. The term usually refers to the mountainous interior of Asia, including the Pamirs, the Himalay ...
* Salad days
* Salt and Light
*Ship of state
The Ship of State is an ancient and oft-cited metaphor, famously expounded by Plato in the '' Republic'' (Book 6, 488a–489d), which likens the governance of a city-state to the command of a vessel. Plato expands the established metaphor an ...
* Son of a gun
*Survival of the fittest
"Survival of the fittest" is a phrase that originated from Darwinian evolutionary theory as a way of describing the mechanism of natural selection. The biological concept of fitness is defined as reproductive success. In Darwinian terms, th ...
* Teaching grandmother to suck eggs
*Technical debt
In software development and other information technology fields, technical debt (also known as design debt or code debt) refers to the implied cost of additional work in the future resulting from choosing an expedient solution over a more robust o ...
*Touchstone (metaphor)
As a metaphor, a touchstone is any physical or intellectual measure by which the validity or merit of a concept can be tested. It is similar in use to an acid test (gold), acid test, or a litmus test (politics), litmus test in politics.
The word ...
*Tragedy of the commons
The tragedy of the commons is the concept that, if many people enjoy unfettered access to a finite, valuable resource, such as a pasture, they will tend to overuse it and may end up destroying its value altogether. Even if some users exercised vo ...
*Tunnel vision
Tunnel vision is the loss of peripheral vision with retention of central vision, resulting in a constricted circular tunnel-like field of vision.
Causes
Tunnel vision can be caused by:
Eyeglass users
Eyeglass users experience tunnel vision ...
* Unmarked grave
*Yin and yang
Originating in Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (, ), also yinyang or yin-yang, is the concept of opposite cosmic principles or forces that interact, interconnect, and perpetuate each other. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary an ...
* New Testament military metaphors
*New Testament athletic metaphors
The New Testament uses a number of athletic metaphors in discussing Christianity, especially in the Pauline epistles and the Epistle to the Hebrews. Such metaphors also appear in the writings of contemporary philosophers, such as Epictetus and Ph ...
War
*Catch-22 (logic)
A catch-22 is a paradoxical situation from which an individual cannot escape because of contradictory rules or limitations. The term was first used by Joseph Heller in his 1961 novel '' Catch-22''.
Catch-22s often result from rules, regulations, ...
* Double edged sword
* Dry powder
*Fog of war
The fog of war is the uncertainty in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one's own capability, adversary capability, and adversary Intent (Military), inten ...
*No-win situation
A no-win situation or lose–lose situation is an outcome of a negotiation, conflict or challenging circumstance in which all parties are worse off. It is an alternative to a win–win or outcome in which one party wins. Arbitration or media ...
*Pyrrhic victory
A Pyrrhic victory ( ) is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Such a victory negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress.
The phrase originates from a quote from ...
* Saber noise
*Shareholder rights plan
A shareholder rights plan, colloquially known as a "poison pill", is a type of defensive tactic used by a corporation's board of directors against a takeover.
In the field of mergers and acquisitions, shareholder rights plans were devised in the e ...
* Shooting the messenger
* Smoking gun
* Texas sharpshooter fallacy
*War chest
A war chest is a metaphor for any collection of tools or money intended to be used in a challenging or dangerous situation. Historically, it referred to an actual chest located in the homes or barracks of soldiers or military leadership, in which ...
* Win-win game
Lists
*List of political metaphors
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
** :Political metaphors referring to people
* :Metaphors by reference
References
;Further reading
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* {{cite web , url=http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/indoc_term.htm , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060603020707/http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/indoc_term.htm , url-status=dead , archive-date=June 3, 2006 , title=Service Jargon , author=Naval Air Station Jacksonville , date=1942 , work= 9780070328778A-V(S) Indoctrination School , publisher=Department of the Navy , accessdate=June 17, 2010
Metaphors