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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With that analogy in mind, the Cair Detangling Hair Mist is like treating your hair to a nice dry clean with every spritz.—
Sophia Panych,
Allure,
16 Sep. 2025
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The judges jumped in to suggest Kilaru’s analogies weren’t so convincing in the context of a football player like Pavia, who has a limited window to earn NIL money.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
16 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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The metaphor of a bucket of cold water is inadequate.—
Óscar Martínez & Carlos Martínez,
The Dial,
16 Sep. 2025
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Stryker took aim at people who insisted on using the creature as a derogatory metaphor.—
Thomas Page McBee,
Travel + Leisure,
16 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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