as in dead metaphor
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Recent Examples of code word
That is the administration’s code word for both climate programs and ones seeking to encourage diversity, equity and inclusion.
—
Natalie Proulx, New York Times, 20 May 2025
Halbreich told me that prominent art institutions are already using code words, like community, to talk about diversity.
—Rachel Corbett, Vulture, 10 Apr. 2025
These traffickers often use code words and emojis to avoid being detected by law enforcement or censored by platform guidelines.
—Rachel Hale, USA Today, 3 Apr. 2025
Vejar suggests planning your code word in advance for dangerous situations.
—Sherri Gordon, Parents, 31 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for code word
Natalie Proulx, New York Times, 20 May 2025
Halbreich told me that prominent art institutions are already using code words, like community, to talk about diversity.
—Rachel Corbett, Vulture, 10 Apr. 2025
These traffickers often use code words and emojis to avoid being detected by law enforcement or censored by platform guidelines.
—Rachel Hale, USA Today, 3 Apr. 2025
Vejar suggests planning your code word in advance for dangerous situations.
—Sherri Gordon, Parents, 31 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for code word
Recent Examples of Synonyms for code word
Noun
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Many of our emotion terms are references to states of the body—we’re downcast, bent out of shape, head over heels, shaken up, down in the mouth—which have slowly rigidified into dead metaphor.—
Nikhil Krishnan,
The New Yorker,
1 Aug. 2022
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This shift reminds us that dead metaphors aren’t always terminally dead.—
Rob Nixon,
Smithsonian,
23 Mar. 2018
Noun
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The video of serene waves that swished behind the curved stage at the start of Dua Lipa’s concert slowly intensified until the tide became a surge, an appropriate analogy for the pop superstar’s arrival in the US for the first time in more than three years.—
Melissa Ruggieri,
USA Today,
6 Sep. 2025
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Simmons made an analogy of Jenkins at the wheels of FIU’s offense.—
Walter Villa,
Miami Herald,
4 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Consider, for instance, the use of rhetorical figures such as metaphor or simile.—
Nino Letteriello,
Forbes.com,
22 Aug. 2025
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No metaphors or similes or hyperbolic language needed here – your kids are next.—
Rob Gagnon,
Hartford Courant,
25 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Germany teaches the Holocaust without euphemism, South Africa memorializes apartheid, and Rwanda preserves memory of genocide — nations gain respect by confronting their darkest chapters, not avoiding them.—
Ed Gaskin,
Boston Herald,
27 Aug. 2025
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Sometimes, this stems from their opinion that the supposedly tactful replacements for the R-word are equally if not more offensive — a classic example of the euphemism treadmill in practice.—
Hershal Pandya,
Vulture,
22 Aug. 2025
Noun
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An earnest and thoughtful executive with a warm, open demeanor, Pinault was seated at Monday’s interview under a large black-and-white painting of an owl, the mascot for Kering — and a metaphor for his watchful eyes on shifting consumer sentiment and economic fluctuations.—
Miles Socha,
Footwear News,
9 Sep. 2025
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That metaphor of resilience was remembered by Canadians in February.—
Steve Tengler,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Their circumlocutions were as entrancing as their ability to find the most precisely ironic words for difficult-to-name realities.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
8 July 2025
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Here, instead, she’s swayed by a dead Diana softly squeezing her hand and kindly hinting — the dead Diana is an ace at tactful circumlocution — that now is the time to show a mourning nation some emotion.—
Tom Gliatto,
Peoplemag,
16 Nov. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Code word.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/code%20word. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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