as in dead metaphor
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Recent Examples of mixed metaphor
Cats, however, may turn out to be the canaries in the coalmines — pardon the mixed metaphor.
—
Jan Ellen Spiegel, Hartford Courant, 24 Dec. 2024
Yeah, that's probably a mixed metaphor, or actually a simile.
—Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 21 Jan. 2011
Fair warning: What follows is a mixed metaphor palooza.
—Keith Kloor, Discover Magazine, 23 Jan. 2013
The triple-mixed metaphor says it all: Licht & Co. are struggling with the intractable problem of how to square the CNN brand’s promise — straight news — with the entertainment imperatives of nighttime television.
—Erik Wemple, Washington Post, 22 Dec. 2022
Excuse the mixed metaphor, but the Viper feels like a great white shark on the road.
—WSJ, 3 Dec. 2022
Yes, a mixed metaphor, but that essentially is what has been in play to this stage.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 27 Apr. 2022
Those smoldering embers of shortcomings, now and particularly in the postseason, always hover — a mixed metaphor, admittedly — over some and consistently haunt others.
—Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 28 Jan. 2022
Eye strain, like neck, back, or wrist strain, is nothing to be sneezed at, to use a very mixed metaphor.
—Maria Shine Stewart, cleveland, 28 Sep. 2020
Jan Ellen Spiegel, Hartford Courant, 24 Dec. 2024
Yeah, that's probably a mixed metaphor, or actually a simile.
—Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 21 Jan. 2011
Fair warning: What follows is a mixed metaphor palooza.
—Keith Kloor, Discover Magazine, 23 Jan. 2013
The triple-mixed metaphor says it all: Licht & Co. are struggling with the intractable problem of how to square the CNN brand’s promise — straight news — with the entertainment imperatives of nighttime television.
—Erik Wemple, Washington Post, 22 Dec. 2022
Excuse the mixed metaphor, but the Viper feels like a great white shark on the road.
—WSJ, 3 Dec. 2022
Yes, a mixed metaphor, but that essentially is what has been in play to this stage.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 27 Apr. 2022
Those smoldering embers of shortcomings, now and particularly in the postseason, always hover — a mixed metaphor, admittedly — over some and consistently haunt others.
—Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 28 Jan. 2022
Eye strain, like neck, back, or wrist strain, is nothing to be sneezed at, to use a very mixed metaphor.
—Maria Shine Stewart, cleveland, 28 Sep. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mixed metaphor
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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Rana recommends coming up with a secret code word to use with your family.—
Audrey Nguyen,
NPR,
24 Dec. 2024
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The guidelines had the opposite effect, encouraging streamers to lead with the code words they’d been barred from: a push against standards meant to actually censor players.—
Megan Farokhmanesh,
WIRED,
20 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Angelou’s memoir was itself a part of the broader movement of women speaking publicly about parts of their lives that had so long been shrouded in euphemism, secrecy, and shame.—
TIME,
TIME,
28 Jan. 2025
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But an American Iron Dome has been understood by some as a euphemism for a more comprehensive, layered defense against countries like Russia, China or North Korea.—
Barbara A. Perry,
Newsweek,
28 Jan. 2025
Noun
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This is what Thadeus loves: a test of his store of poetic similes, even if, these days, his poetry-writing is notional.—
Han Ong,
The New Yorker,
12 Jan. 2025
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The simile is novel and yet the sort of thing a young woman would think; there is assonance and consonance seesawing across the sentence, which is slow and gorgeous rather than quick and thrilling.—
Joanna Biggs,
Harper's Magazine,
2 Feb. 2024
Noun
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No analogy is perfect, but a different historical moment feels, to me, more immediate and more challenging as a reference point.—
Robert Pinsky,
The New Yorker,
30 Jan. 2025
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The New Orleans native shared an analogy of a five-year-old who imagines being the knight in shining armor and having to slay a dragon to save the princess in a tower.—
Mya Abraham,
VIBE.com,
28 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Mixed metaphor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mixed%20metaphor. Accessed 12 Feb. 2025.
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