SIMILE

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SIMILE. A FIGURE OF SPEECH, in which a more or less fanciful or unrealistic comparison is made, using like or as. Some dogs are like wolves is a realistic comparison and not a simile, but The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold (Byron) is a simile because neither savagery nor the Assyrian is physically like a wolf. Everyday usage is rich in similes, many of them idiomatic: (1) With like: spread like wildfire, sell like hot cakes, like a fish out of water (said of a person uneasy in an unfamiliar situation). (2) With as … as: as thick as thieves (of people cooperating closely), as strong as an ox (of someone very strong). See FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE, METAPHOR.

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