Adjacent Words

Analogy definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ANAL'OGY, n. [Gr. ratio, proportion.]
1. an agreement or likeness between things in some circumstances or effects, when the things are otherwise entirely different. Thus a plant is said to have life, because its growth resembles in some degree, that of an animal. In life and growth, then, there is an analogy between a plant and an animal. Learning enlightens the mind, because it is to the mind, what light is to the eye, enabling it to discover things before hidden. When the things which have an analogy follow a preposition, that preposition must be between or betwixt; as there is an analogy between plants and animals, or between customs. When one of the things precedes a verb, and the other follows, the preposition used must be to or with; as, a plant has some analogy to or with an animal.
2. With grammarians, analogy is a conformity of words to the genius, structure or general rules of a language. Thus the general rule in English is that the plural of a noun ends in es; therefore all nouns which have that plural termination have an analogy, or are formed in analogy with other words of a like kind.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an inference that if things agree in some respects they probably agree in others
2: drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity in some respect; "the operation of a computer presents and interesting analogy to the working of the brain"; "the models show by analogy how matter is built up"
3: the religious belief that between creature and creator no similarity can be found so great but that the dissimilarity is always greater; any analogy between God and humans will always be inadequate [syn: doctrine of analogy, analogy] [ant: apophatism, cataphatism]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -gies) Date: 15th century 1. inference that if two or more things agree with one another in some respects they will probably agree in others 2. a. resemblance in some particulars between things otherwise unlike ; similarity b. comparison based on such resemblance 3. correspondence between the members of pairs or sets of linguistic forms that serves as a basis for the creation of another form 4. correspondence in function between anatomical parts of different structure and origin — compare homology Synonyms: see likeness

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) 1 (usu. foll. by to, with, between) correspondence or partial similarity. 2 Logic a process of arguing from similarity in known respects to similarity in other respects. 3 Philol. the imitation of existing words in forming inflections or constructions of others, without the existence of corresponding intermediate stages. 4 Biol. the resemblance of function between organs essentially different. 5 an analogue. Derivatives: analogical adj. analogically adv. Etymology: F analogie or L analogia proportion f. Gk (as ANALOGOUS)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Analogy A*nal"o*gy, n.; pl. Analogies. [L. analogia, Gr. ?, fr. ?: cf. F. analogie. See Analogous.] 1. A resemblance of relations; an agreement or likeness between things in some circumstances or effects, when the things are otherwise entirely different. Thus, learning enlightens the mind, because it is to the mind what light is to the eye, enabling it to discover things before hidden. Note: Followed by between, to, or with; as, there is an analogy between these objects, or one thing has an analogy to or with another. Note: Analogy is very commonly used to denote similarity or essential resemblance; but its specific meaning is a similarity of relations, and in this consists the difference between the argument from example and that from analogy. In the former, we argue from the mere similarity of two things; in the latter, from the similarity of their relations. --Karslake. 2. (Biol.) A relation or correspondence in function, between organs or parts which are decidedly different. 3. (Geom.) Proportion; equality of ratios. 4. (Gram.) Conformity of words to the genius, structure, or general rules of a language; similarity of origin, inflection, or principle of pronunciation, and the like, as opposed to anomaly. --Johnson.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(analogies) If you make or draw an analogy between two things, you show that they are similar in some way. It is probably easier to make an analogy between the courses of the planets, and two trains travelling in the same direction. N-COUNT: oft N between/with n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Similarity (in relations or uses), resemblance, likeness, parallelism, similitude, parity, correspondence.

Moby Thesaurus

accordance, affinity, agent, agreement, alignment, alikeness, allegory, alliance, alternate, alternative, ambiguity, aping, approach, approximation, assimilation, backup, balancing, change, changeling, closeness, coextension, collineation, community, comparability, comparative anatomy, comparative degree, comparative grammar, comparative judgment, comparative linguistics, comparative literature, comparative method, compare, comparing, comparison, concurrence, conformity, confrontation, confrontment, contrast, contrastiveness, copy, copying, correlation, correspondence, counterfeit, deputy, distinction, distinctiveness, double, dummy, equal, equidistance, equivalent, equivocation, equivoque, ersatz, exchange, fake, fill-in, ghost, ghostwriter, identity, imitation, likeness, likening, locum tenens, makeshift, matching, metaphor, metonymy, mimicking, nearness, next best thing, nondivergence, opposing, opposition, parallelism, parity, personnel, phony, pinch hitter, proportion, proxy, relation, relief, replacement, representative, resemblance, reserves, ringer, sameness, second string, secondary, semblance, sign, similarity, simile, similitude, simulation, spares, stand-in, sub, substituent, substitute, substitution, succedaneum, superseder, supplanter, surrogate, symbol, synecdoche, tergiversation, third string, token, trope of comparison, understudy, utility player, vicar, vice-president, vice-regent, weighing