What is a Simile?
Examples, definitions, and how to create them
A simile is a figure of speech comparing two things, usually to emphasize or add imagination to a statement.
Ever get bored of reading the dictionary? Or, like an owl trying to read a book during the daytime, did you just fall asleep? Most people don’t make dictionary reading a hobby for a simple reason — the formal language is as dull as a goat eating grass!
And while the above examples of simile probably aren’t going to win me any Pultizer prizes, they did serve the make the opening paragraph a bit less dictionarylike.
And that’s kind of the point of similes. They make language more fun, interesting, and keep our attention far longer than a plain old sentence.
So, let’s take a look at just what similes are, some awesome examples, and how you can make your very own similes for writing, speeches, or even a standup routine.
What is a simile?
You’ve probably heard this in grade school, too, but the most common words used in similes are “as”, “like”, “so”, and “than.” What you might not have heard, depending on your schooling, is that the object being compared is called the “tenor”, and the object being compared to is called the “vehicle.”
