Similes use “like” or “as” to compare things and add interest to writing. They can refer to universal qualities or be sarcastic or figurative. Overuse can make them clichéd, so choose wisely.
A simile is a figure of speech which consists of a comparison using like or as. Well-chosen ones can be used to spice up writing or as an alternative to description using for example adjectives. Some refer to a universal, or nearly universal, quality or attribute of the object of comparison.
Examples include the following: White as the snow Old as the hills
It’s also possible that these figures of speech are referring to a feature that is possible but not necessary: as tall as a kite. Kites aren’t always flown, so they aren’t always tall, but flying is what kites are made for and they’re about. in heaven” is closely associated with them. While not so obvious, such similarities are easily understood.
Similarities can also be sarcastic: clear as mud. This is not to be understood directly; in fact, it means the opposite of what it says.
Some comparisons expressed in this way tend towards the figurative: Dead as a Nail has been explained in many different ways: as arising from the practice of bending the nails of doors so that they cannot be retrieved, or perhaps from the use of nails as the first knockers , who died from the “abuse” they received while being beaten. In any case, door nails aren’t literally dead, having never really been alive.
Another figurative usage is as follows: dead like a dodo because, technically, dodos are not dead, but extinct.
Alliteration can play a part in these too, because you can certainly see a pattern: clear as crystal dry as dust busy as a bee proud as a peacock happy as a fist as big as life beautiful as an image as cool as a cucumber dull as dish water hot as hell fit as a violin slow as a snail
The similarities start out as fresh and interesting language, but like any other phrase, if repeated too often, they become clichéd. Most comparisons between colors and animals have lost their verve, for example. Instead of cheering up language, they now make it boring. It is not enough to sprinkle one’s language with these rhetorical figures to revive it, one must also choose well.
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