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A simile (/ˈsɪməli/) is a type of figure of speech that directly compares two things.^[1]^[2] Similes are often contrasted with metaphors, where similes necessarily compare two things using words such as "like", "as", while metaphors often create an implicit comparison (i.e. saying something "is" something else). However, there are two schools of thought regarding the relationship between similes and metaphors. The first defines them as opposites, such that a statement cannot be both a simile and a metaphor — if it uses a comparison word such as "like" then it is a simile; if not, it is a metaphor.^[1]^[3]^[2]^[4] The second school considers metaphor to be the broader category, in which similes are a subcategory — according to which every simile is also a metaphor (but not vice-versa).^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] These two schools reflect differing definitions and usages of the word "metaphor" and whether or not it encompasses similes, but both agree that similes always involve a direct comparison word such as "like" or "as".

The word simile derives from the Latin word similis ("similar, like"), while metaphor derives from the Greek word metapherein ("to transfer").^[3] As in the case of metaphors, the thing that is being compared is called the tenor, and the thing it is being compared to is called the vehicle.^[9] Author and lexicographer Frank J. Wilstach compiled a dictionary of similes in 1916, with a second edition in 1924.

Uses

In literature

"O My Luve's like a red, red rose." "A Red, Red Rose," by Robert Burns.^[1]^[10]
John Milton, Paradise Lost, a Homeric simile:^[11]

As when a prowling Wolf,
Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey,
Watching where Shepherds pen their Flocks at eve
In hurdl'd Cotes amid the field secure,
Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the Fold:
. . . . . . .
So clomb this first grand Thief into God's Fold^[12]

William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice:

How far that little candle throws his beams!

So shines a good deed in a naughty world.^[13]

Stopping her from going was like trying to catch a bullet with a pair of tweasers, impossible.^[13]

Learning to drive was like a deer learning how to walk for the first time. Stumbling until you get it right.^[13]

In comedy

Similes are used extensively in British comedy, notably in the slapstick era of the 1960s and 1970s. In comedy, the simile is often used in negative style: "he was as daft as a brush." They are also used in a comedic context where a sensitive subject is broached, and the comedian will test the audience with a response to a subtle implicit simile before going deeper.^[14] The sitcom Blackadder featured the use of extended similes, normally said by the title character. For example:

Baldrick: I have a plan, sir.

Blackadder: Really, Baldrick? A cunning and subtle one?

Baldrick: Yes, sir.

Blackadder: As cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University?^[15]

In languages other than English

Given that similes emphasize affinities between different objects, they occur in many cultures and languages.

Arabic

Sayf al-Din al-Amidi discussed Arabic similes in 1805: "On Substantiation Through Transitive Relations".

Vietnamese

Thuy Nga Nguyen and Ghil'ad Zuckermann (2012) classify Vietnamese similes into two types: Meaning Similes and Rhyming Similes.

The following is an example:

Nghèo

/ŋɛu

như

ɲɯ

con

kɔn

mèo

mɛu/

"Poor as a cat"

Whereas the above Vietnamese example is of a rhyming simile, the English simile "(as) poor as a church mouse" is only a semantic simile.^[16]

Telugu

In Telugu, simile is known as upamaalankaaramu (ఉపమాలంకారము). Based on the components of the sentence in which the comparison is made, they are classified into complete (పూర్ణోపమాలంకారము- puurnopamaalankaaramu) and incomplete (లుప్తోపమాలంకారము- lupthopamaalankaaramu) similes. The classic example of a complete simile is: ఆమె ముఖము చంద్రబింబము వలెనున్నది (Her face looks like a moon).