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{{short description|Figure of speech marked by explicit comparison}}
{{distinguish|smile}}
A '''simile''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|m|əl|i}}) is a [[figure of speech]] that directly ''compares'' two things.<ref name="Bedford447">{{Cite book|title=The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms|publisher=Bedford/St. Martins|year=2003|isbn=978-0312259105|edition=2nd|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bedfordglossaryo00murf_2/page/447 447–448]|url=https://archive.org/details/bedfordglossaryo00murf_2/page/447}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Simile|url=http://literaryterms.net/simile/|website=Literary Terms|date=22 June 2015|access-date=6 April 2016|language=en-US}}</ref> Similes differ from metaphors by highlighting the similarities between two things using comparison words such as "like", "as", "so", or "than",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms/simile|title = LitCharts}}</ref> while [[metaphors]] create an implicit comparison (i.e. saying something "''is''" something else).<ref name="Bedford447" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metaphor#note-2 |title=Oxford Reference: metaphor and simile |website=Oxford Reference |access-date=4 July 2019}}</ref> This distinction is evident in the etymology of the words: simile derives from the Latin word ''similis'' ("similar, like"), while metaphor derives from the Greek word ''metapherein'' ("to transfer").<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metaphor#note-2 |title=Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary |website=Merriam-Webster |access-date=4 July 2019}}</ref> As in the case of metaphors, the thing that is being compared is called the tenor, and the thing it is being compared to is called the vehicle.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://englishlikeanative.co.uk/what-is-a-simile-with-definition-and-examples/|title=What Is A Simile?|website=English Like A Native|access-date=2021-02-21}}</ref>
Author and lexicographer [[Frank J. Wilstach]] compiled a dictionary of similes in 1916, with a second edition in 1924.

== Uses ==

=== In literature ===
* "O My {{notatypo|Luve's}} like a red, red rose." "[[A Red, Red Rose]]," by [[Robert Burns]].<ref name="Bedford447" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/pageturner.cfm?id=87802826|title=A Red Red Rose|last=Burns|first=Robert|website=Glen Collection of Printed Music, Vol. 5|publisher=National Library of Scotland|page=415|access-date=2016-04-06}}</ref>
* [[John Milton]], ''[[Paradise Lost]]'', a [[Homeric simile]]:<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms|last1=Murfin|first1=Ross|last2=Ray|first2=Supryia M.|publisher=Bedford/St. Martins|year=2003|isbn=978-0312259105|edition=2nd|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bedfordglossaryo00murf_2/page/135 135]|url=https://archive.org/details/bedfordglossaryo00murf_2/page/135}}</ref><br /><blockquote><poem>::As when a prowling Wolf,
::Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey,
::Watching where Shepherds pen their Flocks at eve
::In hurdl'd Cotes amid the field secure,
::Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the Fold:
::. . . . . . .
::So clomb this first grand Thief into God's Fold<ref name="MiltonTodd1852">{{cite book|last=Milton|first=John|editor=Henry John Todd|title=The Poetical Works of John Milton: With Notes of Various Authors; and with Some Account of the Life and Writings of Milton, Derived Principally from Original Documents in Her Majesty's State-paper Office|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3jU-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA62|year=1852|publisher=Rivingtons, Longman and Company|page=62}}</ref></poem></blockquote>
* [[William Shakespeare]], ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'':
<br>
::How far that little candle throws his beams!
::So shines a good deed in a naughty world.<ref>{{cite book|editor=William Hall|title=Encyclopædia of English Grammar: Designed for the Use of Schools, Academies, and Private Learners|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lxhEAQAAMAAJ|year=1850|publisher=Scott and Bascom|page=352}}</ref>

::Stopping her from going was like trying to catch a bullet with a pair of tweasers, impossible.<ref>{{cite book|editor=William Hall|title=Encyclopædia of English Grammar: Designed for the Use of Schools, Academies, and Private Learners|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lxhEAQAAMAAJ|year=1850|publisher=Scott and Bascom|page=352}}</ref>

::Learning to drive was like a deer learning how to walk for the first time. Stumbling until you get it right.<ref>{{cite book|editor=William Hall|title=Encyclopædia of English Grammar: Designed for the Use of Schools, Academies, and Private Learners|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lxhEAQAAMAAJ|year=1850|publisher=Scott and Bascom|page=352}}</ref>

=== In comedy ===
Similes are used extensively in British comedy, notably in the [[slapstick]] era of the 1960s and 1970s. In comedy, the simile is often used in negative style: "he was as daft as a brush." They are also used in comedic context where a sensitive subject is broached, and the comedian will test the audience with response to subtle implicit simile before going deeper.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.funnysimiles.com/what_is_a_simile.html|title=What Is A Simile?|website=Funny Similes!|access-date=2016-04-06}}{{Dead link|date=February 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The sitcom ''[[Blackadder]]'' featured the use of extended similes, normally said by the title character. For example:
::Baldrick: I have a plan, sir.
::Blackadder: Really, Baldrick? A cunning and subtle one?
::Baldrick: Yes, sir.
::Blackadder: As cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University?

== In languages other than English ==

Given that similes emphasize affinities between different objects, they occur in many cultures and languages.

=== Arabic ===
[[Sayf al-Din al-Amidi]] discussed Arabic similes in 1805: [http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2981 "On Substantiation Through Transitive Relations"].

=== Vietnamese ===

Thuy Nga Nguyen and [[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]] (2012) classify Vietnamese similes into two types: Meaning Similes and Rhyming Similes.

The following is an example:
{{interlinear|indent=3
|'''Nghèo''' như con '''mèo'''
|/'''ŋɛu''' ɲɯ kɔn '''mɛu'''/
|"Poor as a cat"}}

Whereas the above Vietnamese example is of a '''rhyming''' simile, the English simile "(as) poor as a church mouse" is only a '''semantic''' simile.<ref>See p. 98 in Thuy Nga Nguyen and [[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]] (2012), "Stupid as a Coin: Meaning and Rhyming Similes in Vietnamese", ''International Journal of Language Studies'' 6 (4), pp. 97-118.</ref>

===[[తెలుగు|Telugu]]===
In '''Telugu''', simile is known as '''upamaalankaaramu''' ([[:te:ఉపమాలంకారము|ఉపమాలంకారము]]). Based on the components of the sentence in which the comparison is made, they are classified into complete (పూర్ణోపమాలంకారము- '''puurnopamaalankaaramu''') and incomplete ([[లుప్తోపమాలంకారము]]- '''lupthopamaalankaaramu''') similes. The classic example of a complete simile is: ఆమె ముఖము చంద్రబింబము వలెనున్నది (Her face looks like a moon).

== See also ==
{{Wiktionary category|category=English similes|type=similes}}
* [[Alliteration]]
* [[Analogy]]
* [[Description]]
* [[Figure of speech]]
* [[Homeric simile]]
* [[Hyperbole]]
* [[Hypocatastasis]]
* [[Like#Comparisons|Like (as a preposition used in comparisons)]]
* [[Metaphor]]
* [[Metonymy]]
* [[Personification]]
* [[Phono-semantic matching]]
* [[Tautology (language)]]
* [[Va tacito e nascosto#Simile aria|Simile aria]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External Links ==

* [https://englishgrammarsoft.com/what-is-a-simile-examples/ Examples of Simile in Literature]

[[Category:Figures of speech]]
[[Category:Narrative techniques]]
[[Category:Descriptive technique]]
[[Category:Comparisons]]

Simile - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article