simile

See also: símile

English

Etymology

From Latin simile (“comparison, likeness, parallel”) (first attested 1393), originally from simile, neuter form of similis (“like, similar, resembling”). Compare English similar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪməli/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

Examples (figure of speech)
Her eyes were like stars.

simile (countable and uncountable, plural similes or similia)

1. A figure of speech in which one thing is explicitly compared to another, using e.g. like or as.

   Antonym: dissimile

   Hypernym: figure of speech

   Coordinate term: (when the comparison is implicit) metaphor

   • 1826, Thomas Bayly Howell, A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanours, volume 33:

     He made a simile of George the third to Nebuchadnezzar, and of the prince regent to Belshazzar, and insisted that the prince represented the latter in not paying much attention to what had happened to kings […]

   • 1905, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter 2, in Where Angels Fear to Tread, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 57:

     What follows should be prefaced with some simile—the simile of a powder-mine, a thunderbolt, an earthquake—for it blew Philip up in the air and flattened him on the ground and swallowed him up in the depths.

   • 1925, Countee Cullen, Fruit of the Flower:

     My father is a quiet man / With sober, steady ways; / For simile, a folded fan; / His nights are like his days.

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *sem-‎ (0 c, 75 e)

Translations

figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another

• Arabic: تَشْبِيه m (tašbīh)
• Azerbaijani: təşbeh
• Belarusian: параўна́нне n (paraŭnánnje)
• Bulgarian: сравне́ние (bg) n (sravnénie)
• Catalan: símil m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 直喻 (zhíyù), 明喻 (míngyù), 譬喻 (zh) (pìyù), 比喻 (zh) (bǐyù)

• Czech: přirovnání (cs) n
• Danish: sammenligning c, lignelse c
• Dutch: vergelijking (nl) f
• Finnish: vertaus (fi)
• French: comparaison (fr) f
• Georgian: შედარება (šedareba)
• German: Vergleich (de) m, Gleichnis (de) n
• Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌾𐌿𐌺𐍉 f (gajukō)
• Greek: παρομοίωση (el) f (paromoíosi)
• Hebrew: דִּמּוּי (he) m (dimmúy)
• Hungarian: hasonlat (hu)
• Icelandic: líking (is) f, samlíking f, viðlíking f
• Italian: similitudine (it) f
• Japanese: 直喩 (ja) (ちょくゆ, chokuyu), 比喩 (ja) (ひゆ, hiyu), シミレ (shimire)
• Korean: 직유(直喻) (jigyu), 시밀레 (simille)
• Macedonian: споредба f (sporedba)
• Malayalam: ഉപമ (ml) (upama)
• Maori: kupu whakarite
• Persian: تشبیه (fa) (tašbih)
• Polish: porównanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: símile m
• Romanian: comparație (ro) f
• Russian: сравне́ние (ru) n (sravnénije)
• Sanskrit: उपमा (sa) f (upamā)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: поређење n, поредба f, успоредба f

  Roman: poređenje n, poredba (sh) f, usporedba (sh) f

• Slovak: prirovnanie n
• Slovene: primera (sl) f
• Spanish: símil (es) m
• Swahili: tashbihi (sw)
• Swedish: liknelse (sv) c
• Tamil: உவமை (ta) (uvamai)
• Thai: อุปมา (th) (ùp-bpà-maa)
• Turkish: teşbih (tr)
• Ukrainian: порі́вняння n (porívnjannja)
• Uzbek: tashbih (uz)
• Welsh: cymhariaeth f

See also

• metaphor
• Category:English similes
• Appendix:English similes

Further reading

• simile on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• mislie, smilie

Esperanto

Adverb

simile

1. similarly

Interlingua

Adjective

simile (comparative plus simile, superlative le plus simile)

1. similar

Italian

Etymology

From Latin similis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi.mi.le/
• Rhymes: -imile
• Hyphenation: sì‧mi‧le

Adjective

simile (plural simili)

1. similar

   Non è molto simile.

   It is not very similar.

2. such

   È possibile una cosa simile?

   Is such a thing possible?

Synonyms

• similare

Antonyms

• diverso, differente, dissimile

Related terms

• similitudine
• similmente
• simil-

Anagrams

• mesili, smieli

Latin

Adjective

simile

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of similis

References

• “simile”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Italian simile.

Adverb

simile

1. simile