List of metaphors
Encyclopedia
A list of metaphors organised by type. A metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...

 is a literary figure of speech
Figure of speech
A figure of speech is the use of a word or words diverging from its usual meaning. It can also be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it, as in idiom, metaphor, simile,...

 that uses an image, story or tangible
Tangibility
Tangibility is the attribute of being easily detectable with the senses.In criminal law, one of the elements of an offense of larceny is that the stolen property must be tangible....

 thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels". Metaphor may also be used for any rhetoric
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...

al figures of speech
Literal and figurative language
Literal and figurative language is a distinction in traditional systems for analyzing language. Literal language refers to words that do not deviate from their defined meaning. Figurative language refers to words, and groups of words, that exaggerate or alter the usual meanings of the component...

 that achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance. In this broader sense, antithesis
Antithesis
Antithesis is a counter-proposition and denotes a direct contrast to the original proposition...

, hyperbole
Hyperbole
Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally....

, metonymy
Metonymy
Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept...

 and simile
Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, usually by employing the words "like", "as". Even though both similes and metaphors are forms of comparison, similes indirectly compare the two ideas and allow them to remain distinct in spite of their similarities, whereas...

 would all be considered types of metaphor. Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...

 used both this sense and the regular, current sense above.
With metaphor, unlike analogy
Analogy
Analogy is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject to another particular subject , and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process...

, specific interpretations are not given explicitly.

Animals

  • 800 lb gorilla
    800 lb gorilla
    "800 lb gorilla" is an American English expression for a person or organization so powerful that it can act without regard to the desires of others or the law. The phrase is rooted in a riddle:"Where does an 800 lb. gorilla sleep?"The answer:...

  • Albatross (metaphor)
    Albatross (metaphor)
    The word 'albatross' is sometimes used metaphorically to mean a psychological burden that feels like a curse. It is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ....

  • Belling the cat
    Belling the cat
    Belling the Cat is a fable also known under the titles The Bell and the Cat and The Mice in Council. Although often attributed to Aesop, it was not recorded before the Middle Ages and has been confused with the quite different fable of Classical origin titled The Cat and the Mice. In the...

  • Blind men and an elephant
    Blind Men and an Elephant
    The story of the blind men and an elephant originated in India from where it is widely diffused. It has been used to illustrate a range of truths and fallacies...

  • Boiling frog
    Boiling frog
    The boiling frog story is a widespread anecdote describing a frog slowly being boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death...

  • Butterfly effect
    Butterfly effect
    In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions; where a small change at one place in a nonlinear system can result in large differences to a later state...

  • Camel's nose
    Camel's nose
    The camel's nose is a metaphor for a situation where permitting some small undesirable situation will allow gradual and unavoidable worsening. A typical usage is this, from U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater in 1958:...

  • Chicken or the egg
  • Dead cat bounce
    Dead cat bounce
    In economics, a dead cat bounce is a small, brief recovery in the price of a declining stock. Derived from the idea that "even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height", the phrase, which originated on Wall Street, is also popularly used to any case where a subject experiences a brief...

  • Duck test
    Duck test
    The duck test is a humorous term for a form of inductive reasoning. This is its usual expression:The test implies that a person can identify an unknown subject by observing that subject's habitual characteristics...

  • Elephant in the room
  • Flogging a dead horse
    Flogging a Dead Horse
    Flogging a Dead Horse is a compilation album of singles by the Sex Pistols, released after their break-up, and includes the four songs that were issued as singles A-sides from Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols with three of their B-sides, as well as the six A-sides that were issued...

  • Four Asian Tigers
  • His Eye Is on the Sparrow
    His Eye is on the Sparrow
    "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" is a Gospel hymn. Although today it is a staple of African-American worship services, the song was originally written in 1905 by two white songwriters, lyricist Civilla D. Martin and composer Charles H. Gabriel...

  • Jumping the shark
    Jumping the shark
    Jumping the shark is an idiom used to describe the moment in the evolution of a television show when it begins a decline in quality that is beyond recovery....

  • Mama grizzly
    Mama grizzly
    Mama grizzly is a term that former U.S. vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin coined to refer to herself, then later applied to female candidates she supported or endorsed in the 2010 U.S. midterm elections. Palin first used the term in a May 2010 speech at a fundraiser for...

  • Monkey see, monkey do
    Monkey See, Monkey Do
    Monkey see, monkey do is a saying that originated in Jamaica in the early 18th century and popped up in American culture in the early 1920s. The saying refers to the learning of a process without an understanding of why it works...

  • Ostrich effect
    Ostrich effect
    In behavioral finance, the ostrich effect is the avoidance of apparently risky financial situations by pretending they do not exist. The name comes from the common legend that ostriches bury their heads in the sand to avoid danger....

  • Reverse ferret
    Reverse Ferret
    Reverse ferret is a phrase used predominantly within the British media to describe a sudden volte-face in an organisation's editorial line on a certain issue. Generally, this will involve no acknowledgement of the previous position....

  • Seeing pink elephants
    Seeing pink elephants
    "Seeing pink elephants" is a euphemism for drunken hallucination, caused by alcoholic hallucinosis or delirium tremens. The first recorded use of the term is by Jack London in 1913, who describes one kind of alcoholic, in the autobiographical John Barleycorn, as "the man whom we all know, stupid,...

  • The Sheep and the Goats
    The Sheep and the Goats
    The Sheep and the Goats or "The Judgment of the Nations" was a discourse of Jesus recorded in the New Testament. It is sometimes characterized as a parable, although unlike most parables it does not purport to relate a story of events happening to other characters.One explanation is that it tells...

  • Snake oil
    Snake oil
    Snake oil is a topical preparation made from the Chinese Water Snake , which is used to treat joint pain. However, the most common usage of the phrase is as a derogatory term for quack medicine...

  • Spherical cow
    Spherical cow
    Spherical cow is a metaphor for highly simplified scientific models of complex real life phenomena.-Jokes:The phrase comes from a joke about theoretical physicists:It is told in many variants...

  • Turkeys voting for Christmas
    Turkeys voting for Christmas
    Turkeys voting for Christmas is a cliché used as a metaphor or simile in reference to a suicidal political act, especially a vote.The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations writes that a commentator in the Independent Magazine traced the...

  • Turtles all the way down
    Turtles all the way down
    "Turtles all the way down" is a jocular expression of the infinite regress problem in cosmology posed by the "unmoved mover" paradox. The phrase was popularized by Stephen Hawking in 1988. The "turtle" metaphor in the anecdote represents a popular notion of a "primitive cosmological myth", viz...

  • White elephant
    White elephant
    A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth...

  • Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?
    Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?
    "Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?" is a quotation – sometimes misquoted with "on" in place of "upon" – from Alexander Pope's "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" of January 1735...

  • You have two cows
    You have two cows
    "You have two cows" is the beginning phrase for a series of political joke definitions.-History:"You have two cows" jokes originated as a parody of the typical examples used in introductory-level economics course material. They featured a farmer in a moneyless society who uses the cattle he owns to...


Body parts

  • Broken heart
    Broken heart
    A broken heart is a common metaphor used to describe the intense emotional pain or suffering one feels after losing a loved one, whether through death, divorce, breakup, physical separation or romantic rejection....

  • Cold feet
  • Heart (symbol)
    Heart (symbol)
    The heart has long been used as a symbol to refer to the spiritual, emotional, moral, and in the past, also intellectual core of a human being...

  • Long arm jurisdiction
    Long arm jurisdiction
    In United States jurisprudence, long arm jurisdiction is a statutory grant of jurisdiction to local courts over foreign defendants. A state's ability to confer jurisdiction is limited by the Constitution...

  • Standing on the shoulders of giants
    Standing on the shoulders of giants
    Dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants is a Western metaphor meaning "One who develops future intellectual pursuits by understanding the research and works created by notable thinkers of the past," a contemporary interpretation. However, the metaphor was first recorded in the twelfth century...


Objects

  • Big red button
    Big red button
    A big red button , sometimes called a big red switch , is a real or fictional button with various functions. The purpose of being big and red is for its quick identification and actuation...

  • Brass ring
    Brass ring
    A brass ring is a small grabbable ring that a dispenser presents to a carousel rider during the course of a ride. Usually there are a large number of iron rings and one brass one, or just a few. It takes some dexterity to grab a ring from the dispenser as the carousel rotates. The iron rings can be...

  • Bucket brigade
    Bucket brigade
    A bucket brigade or human chain is a method for transporting items where items are passed from one stationary person to the next.The method was important in firefighting before the advent of hand pumped fire engines, whereby firefighters would pass buckets to each other to extinguish a blaze. A...

  • Chain reaction
    Chain reaction
    A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events....

  • Chinese fire drill
    Chinese fire drill
    A Chinese fire drill is a slang term that has been used by Westerners for more than a century, and is today considered offensive or racist. It is used to describe any situation that is chaotic or confusing....

  • Cultural mosaic
    Cultural mosaic
    "Cultural mosaic" is a term used to describe the mix of ethnic groups, languages and cultures that co-exist within Canadian society. The idea of a cultural mosaic is intended to champion an ideal of multiculturalism, differently from other systems like the melting pot, which is often used to...

  • Domino effect
    Domino effect
    The domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on in linear sequence. The term is best known as a mechanical effect, and is used as an analogy to a falling row of dominoes...

  • Don't judge a book by its cover
    Don't judge a book by its cover
    The English idiom "don't judge a book by its cover" is a metaphorical phrase which means "you shouldn't prejudge the worth or value of something, by its outward appearance alone".-Early Reference:...

  • Holy Grail
    Holy Grail
    The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...

  • Inverted pyramid
    Inverted pyramid
    The inverted pyramid is a metaphor used by journalists and other writers to illustrate the placing of the most important information first within a text...

  • Law of the instrument
  • Melting pot
    Melting pot
    The melting pot is a metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" into a harmonious whole with a common culture...

  • Rosetta Stone
    Rosetta Stone
    The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek...

  • Silver bullet
    Silver bullet
    In folklore, the silver bullet is supposed to be the only kind of bullet for firearms that is effective against a werewolf, witch, or other monsters...

  • Snowball effect
    Snowball effect
    Snowball effect is a figurative term for a process that starts from an initial state of small significance and builds upon itself, becoming larger , and perhaps potentially dangerous or disastrous , though it might be beneficial instead...

  • Soapbox
    Soapbox
    A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden crate originally used for shipment of soap or other dry goods from a manufacturer to a...

  • Zanata Stone
    Zanata Stone
    The Zanata Stone is a small rock with inscriptions presumably of Guanche origin. The stone was found in 1992 near a mountain known as Montaña de las Flores , in the municipality of El Tanque...


People

  • Aunt Sally
  • Cassandra (metaphor)
    Cassandra (metaphor)
    The Cassandra metaphor , is a term applied in situations in which valid warnings or concerns are dismissed or disbelieved....

  • Copernican Revolution (metaphor)
    Copernican Revolution (metaphor)
    The Copernican Revolution, which in terms of astronomy amounted to the acceptance of heliocentrism as suggested by Nicolaus Copernicus, has also been used widely as a metaphor supporting descriptions of modernity...

  • Hobson's choice
    Hobson's choice
    A Hobson's choice is a free choice in which only one option is offered. As a person may refuse to take that option, the choice is therefore between taking the option or not; "take it or leave it". The phrase is said to originate with Thomas Hobson , a livery stable owner in Cambridge, England...

  • Judgment of Solomon
    Judgment of Solomon
    The Judgment of Solomon refers to a story from the Hebrew Bible in which King Solomon of Israel ruled between two women both claiming to be the mother of a child. It has become a metaphor referring to a wise judge who uses a stratagem to determine the truth, tricking the parties into revealing...

  • Procrustes
    Procrustes
    In Greek mythology Procrustes or "the stretcher [who hammers out the metal]", also known as Prokoptas or Damastes "subduer", was a rogue smith and bandit from Attica who physically attacked people by stretching them or cutting off their legs, so as to force them to fit the size of an iron bed...

  • Whipping boy
    Whipping boy
    A whipping boy was a young boy who was assigned to a young prince and was punished when the prince misbehaved or fell behind in his schooling. Whipping boys were established in the English court during the monarchies of the 15th century and 16th centuries...


Places

  • Crossing the Rubicon
  • wikt:crossroads, a decision point; a turning point or opportunity to change direction, course, or goal.
  • Fork in the road (metaphor)
  • wikt:grey area, an area or topic that is not one thing or the other, or where the border between two things is fuzzy. See also wikt:fall between two stools
  • Ground zero
    Ground zero
    The term ground zero describes the point on the Earth's surface closest to a detonation...

  • Mother lode
    Mother Lode
    Mother lode is a principal vein or zone of veins of gold or silver ore. The term probably came from a literal translation of the Spanish veta madre, a term common in old Mexican mining...

  • Plateau effect
    Plateau effect
    A Plateau effect occurs when a formerly effective measure ceases to cause further change. For example, plateau effects may appear in learning, when students experience a dwindling benefit from their learning effort....

  • Podunk
    Podunk
    In American English, Podunk, podunk, or Podunk Hollow denotes or describes a place of small size or "in the middle of nowhere", and is often used in the upper case as a placeholder name in a context of dismissing significance or importance....

  • Point of no return
    Point of no return
    The point of no return is the point beyond which one must continue on his or her current course of action because turning back is physically impossible, prohibitively expensive or dangerous. It is also used when the distance or effort required to get back would be greater than the remainder of the...

  • Slippery slope
    Slippery slope
    In debate or rhetoric, a slippery slope is a classic form of argument, arguably an informal fallacy...

  • Walk to Canossa
    Walk to Canossa
    The Walk to Canossa refers to both the trek itself of Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire from Speyer to the fortress at Canossa in Emilia Romagna and to the events surrounding his journey, which took place in and around January 1077.-Historical background:When, in his early...


Sport

  • Carnoustie effect
    Carnoustie effect
    Carnoustie effect is a term arising after the 1999 Open Golf Championship at Carnoustie, Scotland, when the world's greatest players failed to play to theoretical par for the distance...

  • Doing a Leeds
    Doing a Leeds
    "Doing a Leeds" is an English football phrase which has become synonymous with the potential dire consequences for domestic clubs of financial mismanagement, following the rapid demise in the 2000s of Leeds United A.F.C., a Premier League club that invested heavily to reach the semi-finals of the...

  • Face-off
  • False start
    False start
    In sports, a false start is a movement by a participant before being signaled or otherwise permitted by the rules to start...

  • Media scrum
    Media scrum
    A media scrum is an impromptu press conference, often held immediately outside an event such as a legislative session or meeting. Scrums play a central role in Canadian politics and also occur in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand....

  • Own goal
    Own goal
    An own net occurs in goal-scoring games when a player scores a goal that is registered against his or her own team. It is usually accidental, and may be a result of an attempt at defensive play that failed or was spoiled by opponents....

  • Pole position
    Pole position
    The term "pole position", as used in motorsports, comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole. The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsports, a driver has pole position when he or she...

  • Political football
    Political football
    A political football is a political topic or issue that is continually debated but left unresolved. The term is used often during a political election campaign to highlight issues that have not been completely addressed, such as the natural environment and abortion.There are many reasons that an...


Various

  • Aesopian language
    Aesopian language
    Aesopian Language is communications that convey an innocent meaning to outsiders but hold a concealed meaning to informed members of a conspiracy or underground movement. For instance, Person X is known for exposing secrets in an organization, so the organization leaders announce, "any members who...

  • Apollo archetype
    Apollo archetype
    The Apollo archetype personifies the aspect of the personality that wants clear definitions, is drawn to master a skill, values order and harmony, and prefers to look at the surface, as opposed to beneath appearances...

  • Bad apples
  • Bad apples excuse
  • Battle of egos
  • Betamax
    Betamax
    Betamax was a consumer-level analog videocassette magnetic tape recording format developed by Sony, released on May 10, 1975. The cassettes contain -wide videotape in a design similar to the earlier, professional wide, U-matic format...

  • Bīja
    Bija
    In Hinduism and Buddhism, the Sanskrit term बीज bīja , literally seed, is used as a metaphor for the origin or cause of things and cognate with bindu....

  • Black-and-white dualism
    Black-and-white dualism
    The colors White and Black are widely used to depict opposites. Visually, white and black offer the highest possible contrast. In western culture, white and black traditionally symbolize the dichotomy of good and evil, metaphorically related to light and darkness and day and night.The dichotomy of...

  • Bootstrapping
    Bootstrapping
    Bootstrapping or booting refers to a group of metaphors that share a common meaning: a self-sustaining process that proceeds without external help....

  • Cabin fever
    Cabin fever
    Cabin fever is an idiomatic term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group is isolated and/or shut in a small space, with nothing to do, for an extended period...

  • Cherry picking (fallacy)
  • China Syndrome
    China Syndrome
    The term China syndrome describes a nuclear reactor operations accident characterized by the severe meltdown of the core components of the reactor, which then burn through the containment vessel and the housing building, then notionally through the crust and body of the Earth until reaching...

  • City on a Hill
    City on a Hill
    City on a Hill is an metaphor from the Salt and Light section of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew.It may also refer to:*City upon a Hill, a line from a famous sermon by Puritan John Winthrop frequently invoked in discussions of American exceptionalism.*City on a Hill , a series...

  • Closeted
    Closeted
    Closeted and in the closet are metaphors used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior.-Background:In late 20th...

  • Coming out
    Coming out
    Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....

  • Drunkard's search
    Drunkard's search
    Drunkard's search is a way of conducting a search to look in the place that's easiest, rather than in the place most likely to yield results. Taken from an old joke about a drunkard who loses his car keys while unlocking his car and is found looking under a streetlamp down the road because the...

  • Enchanted loom
    Enchanted loom
    The enchanted loom is a famous metaphor for the brain invented by the pioneering neuroscientist Charles S. Sherrington in a passage from his 1942 book Man on his nature, in which he poetically describes his conception of what happens in the cerebral cortex during arousal from sleep:The "loom" he...

  • Endianness
    Endianness
    In computing, the term endian or endianness refers to the ordering of individually addressable sub-components within the representation of a larger data item as stored in external memory . Each sub-component in the representation has a unique degree of significance, like the place value of digits...

  • Fatted calf
    Fatted calf
    Fatted calf is a metaphor or symbol of festive celebration and rejoicing for someone's long-awaited return. It derives from the parable of the prodigal son in the New Testament. In biblical times, people would often keep at least one piece of livestock that was fed a special diet to fatten it up,...

  • Few bad apples
  • Five wisdoms
    Five Wisdoms
    The Five Wisdoms is an upāya or 'skillful means' doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism. The Five Wisdoms may be understood as the indivisible 'continuüm of bodhi ' , especially according to Yogācarā based Mahāyāna doctrines, ultimately derived from the Buddhabhūmi Sūtra.Capriles in...

  • Gates of horn and ivory
  • Gold in the mine
    Gold in the mine
    Gold in the mine is a metaphor for the potential savings in quality improvement efforts. It is essentially a restatement of the Pareto principle in the context of quality costs; a little digging in the right place can produce great savings, though investigating every possible opportunity is not...

  • Gordian Knot
    Gordian Knot
    The Gordian Knot is a legend of Phrygian Gordium associated with Alexander the Great. It is often used as a metaphor for an intractable problem solved by a bold stroke :"Turn him to any cause of policy,...

  • Greek to me
    Greek to me
    That's Greek to me or It's Greek to me is an idiom/dead metaphor in English, claiming that an expression is incomprehensible, either due to complexity or imprecision. The expression may be used with respect to verbal expressions with excessive jargon of dialect, mathematics, or science...

  • Green shoots
    Green shoots
    Green shoots is a term used colloquially and propagandistically to indicate signs of economic recovery during an economic downturn. It was first used in this sense by Norman Lamont, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, during the 1991 Recession. At the time, Chancellor Lamont...

  • Hue and cry
  • Hungry ghost
    Hungry ghost
    Hungry ghost is a Western translation of Chinese  , a concept in Chinese Buddhism and Chinese traditional religion representing beings who are driven by intense emotional needs in an animalistic way....

  • Indra's net
    Indra's net
    Indra's net is a metaphor used to illustrate the concepts of emptiness, dependent origination, and interpenetration in Buddhist philosophy...

  • Iron (metaphor)
    Iron (metaphor)
    Iron, when used metaphorically, refers to certain traits of the metal iron. Used as an adjective and sometimes as a noun, it refers to something stern, harsh, unyielding, inflexible, rigid, sturdy, strong, robust...

  • Jungle
  • Kōan
  • Late bloomer
    Late bloomer
    A late bloomer is a person whose talents or capabilities are not visible to others until later than usual. The term is used metaphorically to describe a child or adolescent who develops more slowly than others in their age group, but eventually catches up and in some cases overtakes their peers, or...

  • List of scientific metaphors
  • McNamara fallacy
    McNamara fallacy
    The McNamara fallacy refers to Robert McNamara, the United States Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968, and his belief as to what led the United States to defeat in the Vietnam War. It refers to the quantifying of success in the war while ignoring other variables.- Examples :Ted has a lot of...

  • Mindstream
    Mindstream
    Mindstream in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment "continuum" of awareness. There are a number of terms in the Buddhist literature that may well be rendered "mindstream"...

  • Moral compass
  • Musical chairs
    Musical chairs
    Musical chairs is a game played by a group of people , often in an informal setting purely for entertainment such as a birthday party...

  • The Myth of Sisyphus
    The Myth of Sisyphus
    The Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay by Albert Camus. It comprises about 120 pages and was published originally in 1942 in French as Le Mythe de Sisyphe; the English translation by Justin O'Brien followed in 1955....

  • Neurathian bootstrap
    Neurathian bootstrap
    The Neurathian bootstrap is based on a metaphor Otto Neurath used to describe a philosophy of science. The metaphor is based on a quote from Quine's writings in Word and Object:...

  • Nutshell
    Nutshell
    A nutshell is the outer shell of a nut. Most nutshells are inedible and are removed before eating the nut meat inside.-Usage:Most nutshells are useful to some extent, depending on the circumstances...

  • One bad apple
    One Bad Apple
    "One Bad Apple" was a #1 single released by The Osmonds in December 1970. It hit the top of Billboard's Hot 100 Chart in February 1971 and stayed there for five weeks; it also reached #6 on the R&B chart....

  • Panopticon gaze
    Panopticon gaze
    The panopticon gaze is an ideological phrase, a metaphor. The panopticon gaze is the idea of a silent, unknown overseer in the society such as the government that subconsciously controlled all aspects of life...

  • Pear-shaped
  • Post turtle
    Post turtle
    Post turtle is a phrase that has been used in political discussion of various countries, including the U.S. and Canada, based on an old joke. Various politicians have been referenced by the joke or used the joke, including George W Bush, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Stephen Harper.-The joke:An...

  • The price of milk
    The price of milk
    The concept of the price of milk is sometimes used as a way of distinguishing how detached the wealthy are from the reality perceived by the less wealthy...

  • Ignoratio elenchi
    Ignoratio elenchi
    Ignoratio elenchi is the informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but does not address the issue in question...

  • Invincible ignorance fallacy
    Invincible ignorance fallacy
    The invincible ignorance fallacy is a deductive fallacy of circularity where the person in question simply refuses to believe the argument, ignoring any evidence given...

  • Red pill and blue pill
  • Representation (systemics)
    Representation (systemics)
    Representation, from the most general and abstract systemic perspective, relates to a role or function or a property of an abstract or real object, relation or changes.For example,* an ambassador or a sport team may represent its nation....

  • Roof of the World
    Roof of the World
    Roof of the World is a metaphoric description of the highest region in the world, also known as "High Asia", or the Trans-Himalaya, the mountainous interior of Asia.The term is also used for parts of this region, for* the Pamirs,* Tibet* the Himalayas...

  • Salad days
    Salad days
    "Salad days" is an idiomatic expression, referring to a youthful time, accompanied by the inexperience, enthusiasm, idealism, innocence, or indiscretion that one associates with a young person...

  • Salt and Light
    Salt and Light
    Salt and light are metaphors used by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, one of the main teachings of Jesus on morality and discipleship. These metaphors in Matthew 5:13-16 immediately follow the Beatitudes and refer to expectations from the disciples....

  • Ship of state
    Ship of state
    The ship of state is a famous and oft-cited metaphor put forth by Plato in book VI of Plato's Republic. It likens the governance of a city-state to the command of a naval vessel - and ultimately argues that the only men fit to be captain of this ship are philosopher kings, benevolent men with...

  • Survival of the fittest
    Survival of the fittest
    "Survival of the fittest" is a phrase originating in evolutionary theory, as an alternative description of Natural selection. The phrase is today commonly used in contexts that are incompatible with the original meaning as intended by its first two proponents: British polymath philosopher Herbert...

  • Teaching grandmother to suck eggs
    Teaching grandmother to suck eggs
    Teaching grandmother to suck eggs is an English-language saying, meaning that a person is giving advice to someone else about a subject that they already know about .-Origins of the phrase:...

  • Technical debt
    Technical debt
    Technical debt are synonymous, neologistic metaphors referring to the eventual consequences of poor software architecture and software development within a codebase....

  • Touchstone (metaphor)
    Touchstone (metaphor)
    As a metaphor, a touchstone refers to any physical or intellectual measure by which the validity or merit of a concept can be tested. It is similar in use to an acid test, litmus test in politics, and a shibboleth.-Touchstone in literature:...

  • Tragedy of the commons
    Tragedy of the commons
    The tragedy of the commons is a dilemma arising from the situation in which multiple individuals, acting independently and rationally consulting their own self-interest, will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource, even when it is clear that it is not in anyone's long-term interest for this...

  • Tunnel vision
    Tunnel vision
    Tunnel vision is the loss of peripheral vision with retention of central vision, resulting in a constricted circular tunnel-like field of vision.- Medical / biological causes :Tunnel vision can be caused by:...

  • Unmarked grave
    Unmarked grave
    The phrase unmarked grave has metaphorical meaning in the context of cultures that mark burial sites.As a figure of speech, a common meaning of the term "unmarked grave" is consignment to oblivion, i.e., an ignominious end. A grave monument is a sign of respect and fondness, erected with the...

  • Yin and yang
    Yin and yang
    In Asian philosophy, the concept of yin yang , which is often referred to in the West as "yin and yang", is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. Opposites thus only...


  • New Testament military metaphors
    New Testament military metaphors
    The New Testament uses a number of military metaphors in discussing Christianity, especially in the Pauline epistles.In Philippians 2:25 and Philemon 1:2, Paul describes fellow Christians as "fellow soldiers"...

  • New Testament athletic metaphors
    New Testament athletic metaphors
    The New Testament uses a number of athletic metaphors in discussing Christianity, especially in the Pauline epistles and the Epistle to the Hebrews...

  • Baseball metaphors for sex
    Baseball metaphors for sex
    In the culture of American adolescents, the game of baseball is often used as a euphemistic metaphor for the degree of sexual intimacy achieved in intimate encounters or relationships...


War

  • Catch-22 (logic)
    Catch-22 (logic)
    A Catch-22, coined by Joseph Heller in his novel Catch-22, is a logical paradox arising from a situation in which an individual needs something that can only be acquired with an action that will lead him to that very situation he is already in; therefore, the acquisition of this thing becomes...

  • Dry powder
    Dry powder
    Usage of the term dry powder originated during infantry battles fought during the era of gun powder and cannons. The gun powder had to be kept dry to be effective. It was stored in containers that were as waterproof as the technology of the times allowed, but this was not always reliable...

  • Fog of war
    Fog of war
    The fog of war is a term used to describe the uncertainty in situation awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign...

  • No-win situation
    No-win situation
    A no-win situation, also called a "lose-lose" situation, is one where a person has choices, but no choice leads to a net gain. For example, if an executioner offers the condemned the choice of dying by being hanged, shot, or poisoned, since all choices lead to death, the condemned is in a no-win...

  • Pyrrhic victory
    Pyrrhic victory
    A Pyrrhic victory is a victory with such a devastating cost to the victor that it carries the implication that another such victory will ultimately cause defeat.-Origin:...

  • Saber noise
    Saber noise
    Saber-noise or saber-rattling may be used to refer to a historical incident in Chilean history that took place on September 3, 1924, when a group of young military officers protested against the political class and the postponement of social measures by rattling their sabers within their scabbards...

  • Shareholder rights plan
  • Shooting the messenger
    Shooting the messenger
    "Shooting the messenger" is a metaphoric phrase used to describe the act of lashing out at the bearer of bad news.In earlier times, messages were usually delivered in person by a human envoy. Sometimes, as in war, for example, the messenger was sent from the enemy camp...

  • Smoking gun
    Smoking gun
    The term "smoking gun" was originally, and is still primarily, a reference to an object or fact that serves as conclusive evidence of a crime or similar act. In addition to this, its meaning has evolved in uses completely unrelated to criminal activity: for example, scientific evidence that is...

  • Texas sharpshooter fallacy
    Texas sharpshooter fallacy
    The Texas sharpshooter fallacy is a logical fallacy in which pieces of information that have no relationship to one another are called out for their similarities, and that similarity is used for claiming the existence of a pattern. This fallacy is the philosophical/rhetorical application of the...

  • War chest
    War chest
    In arms and armor, a war chest is a container for the personal weapons and protective gear of a citizen-soldier, kept in the household, and is the origin of the term.-In politics:...

  • Win-win game
    Win-win game
    A win-win game is a game which is designed in a way that all participants can profit from it in one way or the other. In conflict resolution, a win-win strategy is a conflict resolution process that aims to accommodate all disputants.-Types:...


Lists

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