Metaphorical

How to spell metaphorical

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce metaphorical

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does metaphorical mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to or expressed through metaphor; figurative rather than literal.

Metaphorical in a sentence

• When she said the office was a zoo, she meant it in a metaphorical sense.

• The report used metaphorical language to make the dry figures more vivid.

Where does metaphorical come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek metaphora, meaning a 'transfer' or 'carrying over', which was built from meta- ('across' or 'beyond') and pherein ('to carry'). The literal idea was that of carrying a meaning across from one thing to another, so that a word describes something it does not literally name. The Greek term passed into Latin as metaphora and then into French as metaphore before settling into English as 'metaphor' in the 1500s. The adjective 'metaphorical' was formed by adding the familiar -ical ending, and it describes language used figuratively rather than literally. The same pherein root that gives us the 'phor' here also lies behind words such as 'euphoria' and 'phosphorus', all of them involving something being carried or brought.

How the word is built

• meta- (across, beyond)
• phor (carry, from Greek pherein 'to carry')
• -ical (adjective suffix)