mixed metaphor

English

Noun

Examples
until the cows freeze over rocket surgery

mixed metaphor (plural mixed metaphors)

1. (linguistics) An overreaching, contradictory or incongruous combination of two distinct metaphors, similes or idioms.
   • 2025 December 3, Sam Kriss, “Why Does A.I. Write Like … That?”, in The New York Times Magazine‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 3 December 2025:

     This is just what the world sounds like now. This is how everything has chosen to speak. Mixed metaphors and empty sincerity.

Translations

Translations

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 混合隱喻 / 混合隐喻

• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: ontuva vertausten yhdistelmä, ontuva vertaus (not necessarily a combination)
• French: métaphore mixte f
• German: verknüpfte Metaphern f pl, schiefes Bild n
• Polish: mieszana metafora f
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

See also

• malaphor

Further reading

• Metaphor § Subtypes on Wikipedia.Wikipedia