as in dead metaphor
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Recent Examples of code word
For our district, seniority has become a code word for stagnation.
—
Baltimore Sun Staff,
Baltimore Sun,
20 May 2026
Sampson says her family now uses a code word.
—
Mike Winters,
CNBC,
9 May 2026
But according to a report Wander, a luxury vacation rental company, shared with Travel +Leisure via email, there are also several unofficial phrases and code words that may be used in the air.
—
Lydia Mansel,
Travel + Leisure,
20 Apr. 2026
Stay safe by verifying sources and using safeguards like family code words.
—
Michael T. Nietzel,
Forbes.com,
24 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for code word
Baltimore Sun Staff,
Baltimore Sun,
20 May 2026
Sampson says her family now uses a code word.
—
Mike Winters,
CNBC,
9 May 2026
But according to a report Wander, a luxury vacation rental company, shared with Travel +Leisure via email, there are also several unofficial phrases and code words that may be used in the air.
—
Lydia Mansel,
Travel + Leisure,
20 Apr. 2026
Stay safe by verifying sources and using safeguards like family code words.
—
Michael T. Nietzel,
Forbes.com,
24 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for code word
Recent Examples of Synonyms for code word
Noun
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The media are somewhat responsible, so apologies for beating a dead metaphor.
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This shift reminds us that dead metaphors aren’t always terminally dead.
Noun
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This involves sharing only essential details, simplifying complex ideas with analogies, and prioritizing influencing action over mere information delivery.
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An Iranian friend drew an analogy between Iranians who have experienced the Islamic regime to being a rape victim.
Noun
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An image may resonate with deeper meanings (that’s what great directors can bring about), but the compression and displacement that make the simile devastating on the page have no cinematic equivalent.
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Dryden’s famous simile, from La Fontaine’s own century, likens a translator who copies too closely to a man dancing on ropes with fettered legs: careful, precise, but never graceful.
Noun
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The Execution Crisis Defined Rasmus Holst, CEO of Zensai, describes it without euphemism.
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Willmett and Harris are clearly uninterested in euphemisms, so there’s an exaggerated naivety to their lyrics.
Noun
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The ground-shaking excitement was not just a metaphor in this case.
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Instead, it's turned into a timeless work that's spawned decades of study about the movie as a metaphor for the civil rights movement, Vietnam War and 1960s America.
Noun
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But in terms of its actual content, the statement was pretty thin gruel, bristling with public relations-style circumlocution and vagueness.
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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.
Cite this Entry
“Code word.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/code%20word. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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