as in code word
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for dead metaphor
Noun
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That is why a simple family code word can help stop panic before money changes hands.
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The mention of a cover proved to be the code word, triggering the attention of the girl who introduced herself in a childlike whisper as Norma Jeane Dougherty.
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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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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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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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.
Cite this Entry
“Dead metaphor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dead%20metaphor. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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