simile

See also: símile

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin simile ("comparison, likeness", "parallel") (first attested 1393), originally from simile the neuter form of similis ("like, similar, resembling"). Confer the English similar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪməli/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

simile (countable and uncountable, plural similes or similia)

1. A figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another, in the case of English generally using like or as.

   A simile is a bit like a metaphor.

   • 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.

Hypernyms

• figure of speech

Antonyms

• dissimile

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 n
• Danish: sammenligning c, lignelse c
• Dutch: vergelijking (nl) f
• Finnish: vertaus (fi)
• French: comparaison (fr) f
• Georgian: შედარება (šedareba)
• German: Vergleich (de) m
• 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 (jigyu) (直喻), 시밀레 (simille)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Macedonian: споредба f (sporedba)
• 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 (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 - an appendix containing many similes

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 (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin similis.

Adjective

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-

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Latin

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) simile

1. nominative neuter singular of similis
2. accusative neuter singular of similis
3. vocative neuter singular of similis

References

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