A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things not using the word like or as. Metaphors can be powerful, but they can also be tricky to identify at times. This page contains 100 metaphor examples.
I have separated the metaphors on this page into two lists. The first list contains metaphors that are easier to comprehend and identify. We will call these “easy metaphors,” though they may not be easy to understand. The second list contains fifty metaphors that are more difficult to comprehend. We will call these “hard metaphors.” Another way to consider this would be as a list of metaphors for kids and adults. Without further preamble, here is the list of easy metaphors:
Metaphor Examples for Intermediate Readers
The slashes indicate line breaks.
- The detective listened to her tales with a wooden face.
- She was fairly certain that life was a fashion show.
- The typical teenage boy’s room is a disaster area.
- What storms then shook the ocean of my sleep.
- The children were roses grown in concrete gardens, beautiful and forlorn.
- Kisses are the flowers of love in bloom.
- His cotton candy words did not appeal to her taste.
- Kathy arrived at the grocery store with an army of children.
- Her eyes were fireflies.
- He wanted to set sail on the ocean of love but he just wasted away in the desert.
- I was lost in a sea of nameless faces.
- John’s answer to the problem was just a Band-Aid, not a solution.
- The cast on Michael’s broken leg was a plaster shackle.
- Cameron always had a taste for the fruit of knowledge.
- The promise between us was a delicate flower.
- He’s a rolling stone, and it’s bred in the bone.
- He pleaded for her forgiveness but Janet’s heart was cold iron.
- She was just a trophy to Ricardo, another object to possess.
- The path of resentment is easier to travel than the road to forgiveness.
- Katie’s plan to get into college was a house of cards on a crooked table.
- The wheels of justice turn slowly.
- Hope shines–a pebble in the gloom.
- She cut him down with her words.
- The job interview was a rope ladder dropped from heaven.
- Her hair was a flowing golden river streaming down her shoulders.
- The computer in the classroom was an old dinosaur.
- Laughter is the music of the soul.
- David is a worm for what he did to Shelia.
- The teacher planted the seeds of wisdom.
- Phyllis, ah, Phyllis, my life is a gray day
- Each blade of grass was a tiny bayonet pointed firmly at our bare feet.
- The daggers of heat pierced through his black t-shirt.
- Let your eyes drink up that milkshake sky.
- The drums of time have rolled and ceased.
- Her hope was a fragile seed.
- When Ninja Robot Squad came on TV, the boys were glued in their seats.
- Words are the weapons with which we wound.
- She let such beautiful pearls of wisdom slip from her mouth without even knowing.
- Scars are the roadmap to the soul.
- The quarterback was throwing nothing but rockets and bombs in the field.
- We are all shadows on the wall of time.
- My heart swelled with a sea of tears.
- When the teacher leaves her little realm, she breaks her wand of power apart.
- The Moo Cow’s tail is a piece of rope all raveled out where it grows.
- My dreams are flowers to which you are a bee.
- The clouds sailed across the sky.
- Each flame of the fire is a precious stone belonging to all who gaze upon it.
- And therefore I went forth with hope and fear into the wintry forest of our life.
- My words are chains of lead.
- But into her face there came a flame; / I wonder could she have been thinking the same?
Metaphor Examples for Advanced Readers
Here are fifty more challenging examples of metaphors. The slashes indicate line breaks.
- The light flows into the bowl of the midnight sky, violet, amber and rose.
- Men court not death when there are sweets still left in life to taste.
- In capitalism, money is the life blood of society but charity is the soul.
- Whose world is but the trembling of a flare, / And heaven but as the highway for a shell,
- Fame is the fragrance of heroic deeds, / Of flowers of chivalry and not of weeds!
- So I sit spinning still, round this decaying form, the fine threads of rare and subtle thought.
- And swish of rope and ring of chain /
Are music to men who sail the main. - Still sits the school-house by the road, a ragged beggar sunning.
- The child was our lone prayer to an empty sky.
- Blind fools of fate and slaves of circumstance, / Life is a fiddler, and we all must dance.
- Grind the gentle spirit of our meek reviews into a powdery foam of salt abuse.
- Laugh a drink from the deep blue cup of sky.
- Think now: history has many cunning passages and contrived corridors.
- You are now in London, that great sea whose ebb and flow at once is deaf and loud,
- His fine wit makes such a wound that the knife is lost in it.
- Waves of spam emails inundated his inbox.
- In my heart’s temple I suspend to thee these votive wreaths of withered memory.
- He cast a net of words in garish colours wrought to catch the idle buzzers of the day.
- This job is the cancer of my dreams and aspirations.
- This song shall be thy rose, soft, fragrant, and with no thorn left to wound thy bosom.
- There, one whose voice was venomed melody.
- A sweetness seems to last amid the dregs of past sorrows.
- So in this dimmer room which we call life,
- Life is the night with its dream-visions teeming, / Death is the waking at day.
- Then the lips relax their tension
and the pipe begins to slide, /
Till in little clouds of ashes,
it falls softly at his side. - The olden days: when thy smile to me was wine, golden wine thy word of praise.
- Thy tones are silver melted into sound.
- Under us the brown earth / Ancient and strong, / The best bed for wanderers;
- Love is a guest that comes, unbidden, / But, having come, asserts his right;
- My House of Life is weather-stained with years.
- See the sun, far off, a shriveled orange in a sky gone black;
- Three pines strained darkly, runners in a race unseen by any.
- But the rare herb, Forgetfulness, it hides away from me.
- The field of cornflower yellow is a scarf at the neck of the copper sunburned woman
- Life: a lighted window and a closed door.
- Some days my thoughts are just cocoons hanging from dripping branches in the grey woods of my mind.
- Men and women pass in the street glad of the shining sapphire weather.
- The swan existing is a song with an accompaniment.
- At night the lake is a wide silence, without imagination.
- The cherry-trees are seas of bloom and soft perfume and sweet perfume.
- The great gold apples of light hang from the street’s long bough, dripping their light on the faces that drift below, on the faces that drift and blow.
- From its blue vase the rose of evening drops.
- When in the mines of dark and silent thought / Sometimes I delve and find strange fancies there,
- The twigs were set beneath a veil of willows.
- He clutched and hacked at ropes, at rags of sail, / Thinking that comfort was a fairy tale,
- O Moon, your light is failing and you are nothing now but a bow.
- Life is a dream in the night, a fear among fears, / A naked runner lost in a storm of spears.
- This world of life is a garden ravaged.
- And therefore I went forth, with hope and fear / Into the wintry forest of our life;
- My soul was a lampless sea and she was the tempest.
Common Core State Standards Related to Metaphor
Anchor Standards
View All CCSS Standards Related to MetaphorCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.4 – Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.5 – Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
ELA Standards: Literature
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
ELA Standards: Language
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.5 – Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.5a – Explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors (e.g., as pretty as a picture) in context.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.5b – Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.5a – Interpret figurative language, including similes and metaphors, in context.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.5b – Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.5a – Interpret figures of speech (e.g., personification) in context.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.5a – Interpret figures of speech (e.g., literary, biblical, and mythological allusions) in context.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8.5a – Interpret figures of speech (e.g. verbal irony, puns) in context.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.9-10.5a – Interpret figures of speech (e.g., euphemism, oxymoron) in context and analyze their role in the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.5a – Interpret figures of speech (e.g., hyperbole, paradox) in context and analyze their role in the text.
View Source
Common Core Lesson and Unit Plans
Understanding Common Core State Standards
Silke
/ February 3, 2013Thank you so much it helped me a lot 🙂
Luke
/ January 27, 2013Great examples of metaphors and personification
Mr. Morton
/ February 3, 2013Thanks.
gemma
/ January 17, 2013this is a fantastic website and the best i have ever seen.
Mr. Morton
/ February 3, 2013Thank you.
Bridjet
/ January 15, 2013Do you know an example of a non linguistic metaphor?. I need on for my project and i have no idea what it is .
Mr. Morton
/ February 3, 2013Like a symbol? I’m confused by this phrasing…
courtney
/ January 14, 2013That was soo helpful:):)
sara
/ January 4, 2013Can someone please help me solve it, I’m not quite sure I’m doing it correctly?
Mr. Morton
/ January 5, 2013I’m not sure about what you mean when you say, “solve.” What exactly are you attempting to solve?
analy
/ December 19, 2012do not really get but i still helped
Emmanuel
/ December 4, 2012Thank you very much, i have much help now. As i am in year 6 i have been experiencing a rollercoaster of confusion.
This has really helped me and I am very lucky now. Thank you!!!
Chris
/ November 24, 2012thank you very much im in 5th grade and doing a project with metaphors and i couldnt find any examples thank you! 😀
maryam khan
/ November 22, 2012it helped me alot!
mikey
/ November 18, 2012it is very very helpful
fawaad
/ November 11, 2012It was very helpful because I was learning for the fa’s
Bluedog
/ November 8, 2012Thanks So Much :*
Breanna grigsby
/ October 31, 2012It was very educational
kavya
/ October 29, 2012This cool & Superb man!
I. Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I finished my homework cause of you
Without these metaphors i would be “dead”.Thanks a lot ;P
Ntakez
/ October 26, 2012Very Very Helpful
Emily
/ October 24, 2012Thank you! These examples were really helpful because i had to do a project and i had to write a script and i needed some examples!! You really saved my fang! lolz
Jellan
/ October 23, 2012Super Ramen..LOLS super COOL !
roshan magar
/ October 22, 2012nice..i would like to thank for ur good information about metaphor,a poetic device.
Talya
/ October 22, 2012This was awesome!! Thanks to u I got full marks on the test and I’m going For district competition. Thanks a million !!
Beth
/ October 20, 2012This is helpful but you could put some metaphors in about sadness but thanks any way!!
Mama loves 1D
/ October 17, 2012WOW this is very helpful to me
Robert haslet
/ October 17, 2012This was the LEAST helpful website EVER!!!!!! my 2 year old brother could have gave me better advice!!!!
Mr. Morton
/ October 21, 2012That’s some great hyperbole.
kenzie
/ October 15, 2012sooooooooooo helpful
amiya mukherjee
/ October 12, 2012Great work.
rameen
/ October 4, 2012best metaphors ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Patrick
/ October 1, 2012These are some very good examples of metaphors and really helpful for grades 7 and up like me.
koko
/ October 1, 2012Very helpful!:)
jake
/ September 22, 2012this is a really cool web the best ever!!!!!!!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
vidzz
/ September 22, 2012I finished my homework cause of you
zaloc
/ September 18, 2012nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
tandica benjamin davis
/ September 17, 2012thank you very much i appreciate it
tony
/ September 16, 2012Without these metaphors i would be “dead”.Thanks a lot ;P
Mr. Morton
/ September 27, 2012Seems like a bit of this, Tony. Thanks for visiting!
tony
/ September 16, 2012Without this page I would be “dead”.Thanks a lot
sup
/ September 12, 2012SO HELPFUL 😛 😀 ;l XD
Melvin
/ September 12, 2012This cool & Superb man!
I. Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
mimi
/ August 31, 2012thank u for helping me on my home work !!!
alanna
/ August 2, 2012THAT WAS SO HEPLFUL
Lawrence Rakoata
/ July 27, 2012You smell a rat – It means you’re a liar
cata
/ July 24, 2012hello, this website really saved my life. I needed to do some metaphors examples and I didint had time, I was so warried. Then when I found this page I could do my homework with out problem. Ill like to thank you all
You, creators of this page, are super!
harry styles
/ November 26, 2012great grammar.
Niall Horan
/ February 28, 2013I completely agree.
Grace Weick
/ November 26, 2012Thank you much! I love help my homework! I love you ya! 🙂
marylyn suresh rau
/ July 12, 2012this metaphors is helpful for me to make up sentenses.
Ruchi Patel
/ July 11, 2012Thanks a lot. Thaea examples are really very helpful.
Renae
/ June 24, 2012so helpful thanks
Renae
/ June 24, 2012it was soo helpgul….lol<3
ivy
/ June 19, 2012thank u very much…. very helpful…XD
dylan
/ June 12, 2012cheers for that very helpfull
joel
/ May 28, 2012very helpful and cool:)
Greenie
/ April 18, 2012Very Very helpful. This has the smarts & brains 8) Fankies for the help xx
igohamss
/ April 10, 2012Very helpful.
ryan
/ November 22, 2012yes
chris
/ January 3, 2013thank you for everythiing
malinda
/ March 31, 2012i really didnt find this helpful, in my case anyways.. i am trying to write a paper with a mephor all the way through it and im not finding what i need.