Examples of Analogies

What is an analogy?

An analogy is used to compare two things which are mostly different from each other. It explains one thing by using a connection with the other thing. Therefore, an analogy is a word relationship which compares a couple of words. Let’s learn some examples of analogies.

Examples of analogies

• Analogies

• Purple is to colour as Orchid is to flower

• Seed is to tree as egg is to bird

• Green is to go as red is to stop

• Foot is to toe as hand is to finger

• Stable is to horse as kennel is to dog

• Big is to small as wide is to narrow

• Man is to woman as uncle is to aunt

• Cat is to kitten as lion is to cub

• Dog is to paw as horse is to hoof

• Sheep is to wool as rabbit is to fur

• Little is to big as dwarf is to giant

• Sheep is to mutton as pig is to pork

• Boy is to girl as man is to woman

• Uncle is to nephew as aunt is to niece

• High is to low as up is to down

• Feathers are to birds as scales are to fish

• Tear is to sorrow as smile is to joy

• Arrow is to bow as bullet is to rifle

• Wing is to birds as fin is to fish

• Here is to there as this is to that

• Eat is to ate as go is to went

• Food is to hungry drink is to thirsty

• Nose is to smell as tongue is to taste

• Picture is to wall as carpet is to floor

• Steam is to water as smoke is to fire

• Desolate is to desolation as pleasant is to pleasure

• North is to south as east is to west

• Rich is to poor as ancient is to modern

• Ankle is to leg as wrist is to arm

• King is to kingdom as abbot is to monastery

• Can’t is to can as won’t is to will

• Swim is to swam as read is to read

• Apiary is to bees as aviary is to birds

• Meat is to butcher as flowers are to florist

• Soldier is to army as sailor is to navy

• April is to May as Wednesday is to Thursday

• Picture is to artist as poem is to poet

• Car is to garage as aeroplane is to hangar

• Lion is to roar as elephant is to trumpet

• Wheel is to spoke as flower is to stalk

• Graceful is to clumsy as polite is to rude

• Swan is to cygnet as pig is to piglet

• Fish is to water as bird is to air

• Table is to wood as window is to glass

• Meat is to butcher as flower is to florist

Famous analogies in English language

• Just as a sword is the weapon of a warrior, a pen is the weapon of a writer.
• How a doctor diagnoses diseases is like how a detective investigates crimes.
• Finding a good man is like finding a needle in a haystack.
• Just as a caterpillar comes out of its cocoon, so we must come out of our comfort zone.
• Life is like a race. (This is a simile, which is a tool of analogy. It means that the one who keeps running wins the race whereas the one who stops to catch a breath loses.)
• You are as annoying as nails on a chalkboard (This is also a simile, which is a tool of analogy. This means when you scratch your fingernails on a chalkboard it either feels annoying or sounds annoying like an annoying person who disturbs your feelings or hearing.)
• A movie is a roller coaster ride of emotions. (This is a metaphor, which is also a tool of analogy. It means a roller coaster ride begins from an ordinary ride to a ride that people on it would seem to fly, just like a movie starts with ordinary scenes and ends with an interesting climax.)

Use of analogies in literature

“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!

Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night,

Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear.”

– Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

“Memory is to love what the saucer is to the cup.”

– The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen

“They crowded very close about him, with their hands always on him in a careful, caressing grip, as though all the while feeling him to make sure he was there. It was like men handling a fish which is still alive and may jump back into the water.”

– A Hanging by George Orwell (Book: Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays)

“It has been well said that an author who expects results from a first novel is in a position similar to that of a man who drops a rose petal down the Grand Canyon of Arizona and listens for the echo.”

– Cocktail Time by P.G. Wodehouse

“The day is done, and the darkness

Falls from the wings of Night,

As a feather is wafted downward

From an eagle in his flight.”

– The Day Is Done by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Tools of analogy

Metaphors and similes are tools of analogy. They represent an analogy. Metaphors and similes compare things too.

How to identify a metaphor or a simile?

A metaphor or a simile compares two things which don’t look alike, but have something in common.

When comparing two things, metaphors don’t use ‘like’ or ‘as’ whereas, similes use ‘like’ or ‘as’.

(Click ‘similes’ to learn the examples of similes and try quizzes and worksheets on similes.)

Look at the following examples to understand the difference between a metaphor and a simile.