A simile is a figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two unlike things by using a comparative marker such as 'like', 'as', 'than', or 'as ... as'. Its parameters are: (1) a target domain (the thing being described), (2) a source domain (the thing used for comparison), and (3) a comparative marker that signals the mapping between them. It persists through natural language use, literary tradition, and pedagogical teaching of rhetorical devices. [formal: comparatio | substrate: mind | horizon: a moment | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
simile
A simile is a figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two unlike things by using a comparative marker such as 'like', 'as', 'than', or 'as ... as'. Its parameters are: (1) a target domain (the thing being described), (2)…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A figure of speech that makes explicit comparisons between unlike things using comparative markers such as 'like' or 'as'; a human-made rhetorical device built into language for vivid description and conceptual mapping
Names and aliases
- simileen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrtfjde400049zhnv4xb5z4fINSTANCE_OF →
A simile is a specific kind of figure of speech — it uses explicit comparative markers ('like', 'as') to map properties between source and target domains. A competent speaker would say 'a simile IS a figure of speech.' Nearest kind is figure-of-speech.
- cms78tcq900wfa34cou8pgdf5INSTANCE_OF →
Law 9 test: is simile a specific kind of rhetorical figure? Yes — simile is 'a figure of speech making an explicit comparison using like or as.' A competent speaker would call it 'a rhetorical figure.' Nearest kind.
- cmrmf7wqp001sd1nlgdko4rbiSERVES →
Law 8d: for whose sake? A simile, by its accepted definition, is 'a figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison' — deployed to produce vivid, persuasive understanding in an audience (it persists through 'pedagogical teaching of rhetorical devices'). It is designed and maintained for the sake of rhetoric, the art of designing communication to produce a desired effect on an audience; the same pinned sense accepted for metaphor, irony, metonymy, hyperbole SERVES rhetoric. Its comparative marker exists precisely to make the mapping land rhetorically.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 24, 2026, 2:53 AM UTC
- Content hash
- e13944b87d71383ae3a4259ad74920e0ec3b3915303de54a73c2dc84819c6a11