Analogy

DEFINITION

A comparison between things based upon observations of a significant similarity between them, while acknowledging that they are otherwise dissimilar. Makers of analogies generally infer that if these things are so similar then they are probably alike in other ways. Analogies are usually made to illustrate or explain complex or unfamiliar ideas. Any things similar or alike in such a way as to permit the drawing of an analogy may be called analogous. Analogy is a basic component of symbolism.(pr. a-NAL-ə-JEE)About analogies: "Analogies decide nothing, that is true; but they can make one feel more at home." Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), German founder of psychoanalysis. In New Lectures on Psychoanalysis. Also see appropriation, copy, copyright, counterfeit, ersatz, facsimile, fake, forgery, incongruity, interdisciplinary, likeness, metaphor, mirror, positive, proportion, replica, representation, reproduction, scale, simile, simulacrum, and simulation.