simile

See also: símile

English

Etymology

From Latin simile (“comparison, likeness, parallel”) (first attested 1393), originally from simile, neuter form of similis (“like, similar, resembling”). Confer the English similar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪməli/

• Audio (US):

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Noun

Examples (figure of speech)
Her eyes were like stars.

simile (countable and uncountable, plural similes or similia)

1. A figure of speech in which one thing is explicitly compared to another, using e.g. like or as.

   Antonym: dissimile

   Coordinate term: (when the comparison is implicit) metaphor

   Hypernym: figure of speech

   • 1826, Thomas Bayly Howell, A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanours (volume 33)

     He made a simile of George the third to Nebuchadnezzar, and of the prince regent to Belshazzar, and insisted that the prince represented the latter in not paying much attention to what had happened to kings […]

   • 1925, Countee Cullen, Fruit of the Flower

     My father is a quiet man / With sober, steady ways; / For simile, a folded fan; / His nights are like his days.

Related terms

Category English terms derived from the Proto-Semitic root *simile- not found

Translations

figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another

• Arabic: تَشْبِيه m (tašbīh)
• Azerbaijani: təşbeh
• Belarusian: параўна́нне n (paraŭnánnje)
• Bulgarian: сравне́ние (bg) n (sravnénie)
• Catalan: símil m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 直喻 (zhíyù), 明喻 (míngyù), 譬喻 (zh) (pìyù), 比喻 (zh) (bǐyù)

• Czech: přirovnání (cs) n
• Danish: sammenligning c, lignelse c
• Dutch: vergelijking (nl) f
• Finnish: vertaus (fi)
• French: comparaison (fr) f
• Georgian: შედარება (šedareba)
• German: Vergleich (de) m, Gleichnis (de) n
• Greek: παρομοίωση (el) f (paromoíosi)
• Hebrew: דִּמּוּי (he) m (dimmúy)
• Hungarian: hasonlat (hu)
• Icelandic: líking (is) f, samlíking f, viðlíking f
• Italian: similitudine (it) f
• Japanese: 直喩 (ja) (ちょくゆ, chokuyu), 比喩 (ja) (ひゆ, hiyu), シミレ (shimire)
• Korean: 직유(直喻) (jigyu), 시밀레 (simille)
• Macedonian: споредба f (sporedba)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malayalam: ഉപമ (ml) (upama)
• Maori: kupu whakarite
• Persian: تشبیه (fa) (tašbih)
• Polish: porównanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: símile m
• Romanian: comparație (ro) f
• Russian: сравне́ние (ru) n (sravnénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: поређење n, поредба f, успоредба f

  Roman: poređenje n, poredba (sh) f, usporedba (sh) f

• Slovak: prirovnanie n
• Slovene: primera (sl) f
• Spanish: símil (es) m
• Swahili: tashbihi (sw)
• Swedish: liknelse (sv) c
• Tamil: உவமை (ta) (uvamai)
• Thai: อุปมา (th) (ùp-bpà-maa)
• Turkish: teşbih (tr)
• Ukrainian: порі́вняння n (porívnjannja)
• Uzbek: tashbih (uz)
• Welsh: cymhariaeth f

See also

• metaphor
• Category:English similes
• Appendix:English similes

Further reading

• simile on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• mislie, smilie

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Esperanto

Adverb

simile

1. similarly

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Interlingua

Adjective

simile (comparative plus simile, superlative le plus simile)

1. similar

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Italian

Etymology

From Latin similis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi.mi.le/
• Rhymes: -imile
• Hyphenation: sì‧mi‧le

Adjective

simile (plural simili)

1. similar
   • Non è molto simile. It is not very similar.
2. such
   • È possibile una cosa simile? Is such a thing possible?

Synonyms

• similare

Antonyms

• diverso, differente, dissimile

Related terms

• similitudine
• similmente
• simil-

Anagrams

• mesili, smieli

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Latin

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) simile

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of similis

References

• “simile”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

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Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Italian simile.

Adverb

simile

1. simile