List of metaphors in the English language organized by type. A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story, or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels". The metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance. In this broader sense, antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy, and simile would all be considered types of m