simile examples about education

25 Similes for Education

Education is like a light in the darkness, a guiding force that leads us towards enlightenment and growth. It’s a journey filled with challenges and discoveries, much like life itself.

As we embark on this exploration of similes for education, we’ll delve into the depths of meaning behind each comparison and how they resonate with our understanding of the educational process. Just as a painter creates a masterpiece with each stroke of the brush, so too do educators craft knowledge with each lesson. Let’s unravel these unique similes and gain a new perspective on the world of education.

Similes for Education

1. education is like a light in the darkness..

Meaning: Education serves as a beacon of knowledge, dispelling ignorance and illuminating the path to enlightenment.

In a Sentence: In the remote village, the newly built school was like a light in the darkness, offering hope and opportunity to the children.

2. Learning is as essential as breathing.

Meaning: Learning is not a choice but a fundamental necessity for personal growth and survival.

In a Sentence: Just as we cannot live without air, we cannot thrive without continuous learning; it’s as essential as breathing.

3. Knowledge is as vast as an ocean.

Meaning: The depth and expanse of human knowledge are comparable to the immense and endless seas.

In a Sentence: Exploring the realms of science is like setting sail on an ocean voyage; the knowledge is as vast as an ocean.

4. Teaching is like planting seeds in young minds.

Meaning: Educators nurture the potential within students, just as a gardener plants seeds and watches them grow.

In a Sentence: The teacher’s patience and dedication are akin to a skilled gardener, planting seeds of wisdom in young minds.

5. Education is as valuable as gold.

Meaning: Education holds immeasurable worth, much like the precious metal gold.

In a Sentence: She understood that education was as valuable as gold, and she was determined to attain it at any cost.

6. Learning is like a journey that never ends.

Meaning: The pursuit of knowledge is an ongoing expedition, an endless adventure.

In a Sentence: Life is a continuous quest for learning, a journey that never ends.

7. Knowledge is as powerful as a sword.

Meaning: Just as a sword can conquer adversaries, knowledge can overcome obstacles and challenges.

In a Sentence: Armed with knowledge, she felt as powerful as a warrior with a sword, ready to face any challenge.

8. Teaching is like sculpting a masterpiece.

Meaning: Educators mold and shape the potential within each student, much like a sculptor crafts a work of art.

In a Sentence: The teacher’s dedication to her students was akin to a sculptor tirelessly chiseling away to create a masterpiece.

9. Education is as fundamental as a foundation.

Meaning: Education provides the solid groundwork upon which individuals can build their futures.

In a Sentence: Just as a strong foundation supports a sturdy building, education is as fundamental as a foundation for success.

10. Learning is like a puzzle coming together.

Meaning: The process of acquiring knowledge often involves fitting pieces of information together to form a complete picture.

In a Sentence: With each lesson, the student felt like a puzzle coming together, gaining a deeper understanding of the world.

11. Knowledge is as deep as a well.

Meaning: The depth of human knowledge is comparable to the profundity of a deep well.

In a Sentence: The more he studied, the more he realized that the well of knowledge was infinitely deep and full of surprises.

12. Teaching is like guiding a ship through rough waters.

Meaning: Educators navigate students through challenging times and help them overcome obstacles, much like a captain guiding a ship in a storm.

In a Sentence: The teacher’s guidance was like that of a skilled captain, leading her students safely through the rough waters of education.

13. Education is as enlightening as a beacon.

Meaning: Education provides clarity and direction, much like a lighthouse guiding ships to safety.

In a Sentence: The educational institution served as a beacon of hope, guiding students towards a brighter future.

14. Learning is like a key unlocking doors.

Meaning: Learning opens doors to new opportunities and experiences, much like a key unlocks a locked door.

In a Sentence: With each book he read, it felt like a key unlocking doors to unexplored worlds.

15. Knowledge is as precious as a gem.

Meaning: Knowledge is highly valuable and coveted, much like precious gemstones.

In a Sentence: She treasured knowledge as if it were a rare gem, carefully protecting and nurturing it.

16. Teaching is like nurturing a garden.

Meaning: Educators provide the care and guidance needed for students to flourish, just as a gardener nurtures plants.

In a Sentence: The teacher’s dedication to her students was like that of a skilled gardener, tending to each student’s growth.

17. Education is as transformative as a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.

Meaning: Education has the power to transform individuals and elevate them to new heights, like the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly.

In a Sentence: Through education, she underwent a profound transformation, blossoming into a confident and knowledgeable individual.

18. Learning is like a bridge to new horizons.

Meaning: Learning provides a pathway to new experiences and opportunities, much like a bridge connects two shores.

In a Sentence: With each subject he mastered, it felt like he was building a bridge to new horizons of understanding.

19. Knowledge is as influential as a mentor.

Meaning: Knowledge has the power to guide and shape individuals, much like a mentor’s influence.

In a Sentence: The knowledge he gained from books and experiences was as influential as any mentor he had ever had.

20. Teaching is like shaping the future.

Meaning: Educators play a crucial role in molding and influencing the future of their students.

In a Sentence: The teacher understood that her role was not just teaching but shaping the future of her students.

21. Education is as timeless as the stars.

Meaning: Education has existed throughout human history and will continue to do so, just as the stars have illuminated the night sky for eons.

In a Sentence: The concept of education is as timeless as the stars, transcending generations and cultures.

22. Learning is like a symphony of ideas.

Meaning: Learning involves the harmonious blending of various ideas and concepts, creating a beautiful symphony of knowledge.

In a Sentence: The classroom was filled with the melody of learning, as students shared their diverse ideas and perspectives.

23. Knowledge is as boundless as the universe.

Meaning: The extent of human knowledge knows no bounds, much like the vastness of the universe.

In a Sentence: The more he delved into his studies, the more he realized that the universe of knowledge was boundless and limitless.

24. Teaching is like igniting a spark.

Meaning: Educators have the power to ignite a passion for learning and discovery within their students, much like lighting a spark.

In a Sentence: The teacher’s enthusiasm for the subject ignited a spark within her students, inspiring them to explore and learn.

25. Education is as essential as food for the mind.

Meaning: Just as food is necessary for physical sustenance, education is crucial for mental nourishment and growth.

In a Sentence: In his view, education was as essential as food for the mind, and he never missed an opportunity to learn.

In the world of education, similes offer a unique and vivid way to understand the value and significance of learning, teaching, and knowledge. These comparisons highlight the transformative power of education, the importance of continuous learning, and the profound impact of educators.

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23 Metaphors about School and Education that Pop!

Metaphors about school and education include: (1) Education is the key to new worlds. (2) School is a vaccine for ignorance. (3) Education is the ticket to prosperity. (4) Education sheds light on dark places. (5) School is a dystopia.

Read the rest of the metaphors below!

Metaphors about education and schooling help us understand why it is important to our lives. Some negative education metaphors may also help us explain things we don’t like about school.

Metaphors about school are also useful for explaining why people should go to or stay in school.

Check out these 23 education and school metaphors for some ideas.

Related: 29 Inspiring Metaphors about Learning

Inspiring Metaphors for Education

1. education unlocks doors to new worlds..

This metaphor doesn’t involve single steps or long, hard pathways. Instead, this metaphor refers to learning as a way of accessing new opportunities. Through education, we have increased access to opportunities that were ‘locked’ to use beforehand.

2. Education sheds new light on dark spaces.

The idea of education ‘shedding light’ evokes imagery of people walking around in the dark. The learner has a flashlight and they can shine it around their space, getting a better understanding and appreciation of their ‘world’.

3. Education opens up new horizons.

Travelers ‘open up new horizons’ when they travel over a hill and see new things on the distant horizon that’s now in view. In education, this means that a learner learns something new and now they can understand things that wouldn’t have been able to understand before.

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4. Education is the bridge between the present and the future.

We spend most of the first 20 years of our lives in education. During this time, we’re learning things that we use to create the society of tomorrow. Without education, we can’t created a better tomorrow.

5. Education is a ticket to prosperity.

A ticket is often used to get someone into an exclusive or costly place. A ticket is needed to get into a concert, onto an airplane, on a bus, and so on. So, calling education a ‘ticket to prosperity’ means that education is important in order to achieve prosperity (wealth) in the future. Of course, education is necessary for many well-paid jobs or creating a smarter, better economy for tomorrow.

Read Also: 15 Best Metaphors For Crying Tears

6. Education is the key to success.

A key is required to open doors and, like a ticket, is needed to get you through exclusive doors into new (and more desirable) places. Education is one of the best ways to get you to success: career, financial and personal.

7. Education is a passport to new worlds.

You can take this one as literally as you like. Maybe education is your way of learning about new worlds (through studies of literature, history and geography). Or maybe those ‘new worlds’ are new opportunities like the chance to get a better job or to meet new people.

8. Education is hope.

Many people hold onto hope for a better life through education. While we might literally say education “gives” hope, to say education “is” hope is a metaphorical way of saying the same thing.

Related: 19 Metaphors about Teaching and Teachers

9. Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.

This old saying shows that education is valuable in both good times and bad. When you are on good times, you can point to your education as a reason for your prosperity. In bad times, you turn to your education as your hope for a better day. It could get you a better job, or even the skills to get yourself ahead.

10. Education is a marathon not a sprint.

This is a .metaphor you might use when someone is sick of studying for their next exam. It means that getting an education takes a long time and you need to pace yourself. You should look at the long game: slow and steady will prevent burnout and get you to the end eventually.

11. Education is the answer.

Education could be the answer to many things. It may be the answer to questions about how to ‘escape’ problems like poverty or a bad job. Or it may be the answer to a question about how to ‘get ahead’ or achieve self improvement. In fact, there are many well-documented lifelong effects of lack of education .

12. Education is the antidote to ignorance.

Education is a metaphorical antidote against misinformation and ignorance. It can protect people against lies and fake news and help us think critically about the things we read in the news.

13. Education is the root of success.

A root holds a tree in the ground so it can withstand strong winds and storms. It also delivers water and nutrients from the soil up into the tree to ensure it is alive and thriving. Similarly, education is the root of people’s success. It keeps us strong and stable by giving us the secure jobs of the future. It gives us the skills and knowledge that we need to succeed and thrive.

14. Education is the silver bullet.

We use the phrase ‘ silver bullet ’ to explain something that is the ultimate solution to a problem. In folklore , it was often only a silver bullet that could kill a werewolf or vampire. But in this metaphor, it means that education is the only thing that can solve our problems – such as climate change, democracy, corruption and poverty.

15. Education is the most powerful weapon.

This metaphor is similar to the ‘silver bullet’ metaphor. Education as a ‘weapon’ means that education is a very powerful thing. You might have also heard a similar phrase: ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’. Essentially, in the long run education will be more important than fighting wars because educated people are more powerful. They can invent things, generate wealth, and create a peaceful future.

Related: 12 Metaphors about Students

Metaphors about Schools

16. school is a dystopian world..

‘Dystopia’ is a word used to explain a world that is far worse than our own. Usually dystopian movies and books talk about a future world that has gone down hill due to climate change, invasion or dictatorships.

Some people might think of a school as a dystopian society. The teacher is a dictator and students have no chance to vote them out or disagree. The teacher will make decisions about what is done and said in the classroom. Students are forced to sit and follow instructions with minimal freedom or autonomy. Sounds horrible!

Related: 107 Adjectives to Describe Education

17. Schooling is a vaccine for violence.

In many societies, education is used as a way to decrease violence in a society. Children are sent to school in order to deter them from joining gangs or committing crimes. School is offered as an ‘alternative’ to criminal life, which is seen as a huge barrier to education . So long as children are given the chance to go to school, they have one other pathway away from a life of violence.

Similarly, when people go to school, they learn about values, ethics and compassion. This enables them to learn why violence is not a good choice in life.

18. School is a microcosm of society.

A microcosm is something that has miniature characteristics of something much larger. When we call school a microcosm of society, we look schools like little societies in themselves. There’s a principal (the president?), classrooms (suburbs?), nurses and administrators.

In some schools, students even have the chance of democratic education where they can be child citizens , having a vote on how their ‘mini society’ should be run.

19. School is a prison.

You might hear a child say this to their mother on their way home from a particularly bad day at school. To call school a prison is to refer to the lack of freedom children often feel at school. In most societies, children don’t have a choice: they’re forced to go to school every day, follow the rules of a dictator, enter rooms and exit rooms when bells ring, line up when they’re told to line up, and so on and so on. Not much freedom!

This is a metaphor that conforms to the behaviorist theory of education .

20. School is a treasure.

Schools are things societies covet as great institutions that deliver wealth, peace and happiness. Like something precious on your shelf at home that you point to and love, school is also a ‘treasure’. Societies that don’t have great school systems are envious of societies that do – because a quality school is something that a society needs in order to flourish.

Related: 273 Best Adjectives to Describe a Teacher

21. The school is the cornerstone of society.

A cornerstone is one of the most important stones when building a building. It literally is the first stone placed and is usually the biggest and strongest. In many ways, it holds the building up! So, when we call something a cornerstone, we are calling it something foundational and deeply important to the structural integrity of the whole.

School, we can say, is the cornerstone of society. Without schools, people won’t get the education they need, they won’t be able to read or count money or learn about the importance of democracy. So school is essential for keeping everything going!

22. Schools are the engines of growth.

You’ll often hear politicians use this phrase when running for office. This metaphor pictures the school as an ‘engine’ that drives an entire national economy. People are educated at school so that they have the skills and ability to build and grow businesses that will make money and jobs of the future.

23. My home is a classroom / library.

Some people feel very comfortable at school. They love to learn and broaden their horizons. So, for these people, they may say that school is their ‘home’. The place that’s your home is the place you feel most comfortable. It may be the place where you feel most yourself and are able to relax and enjoy yourself. Obviously, the person isn’t saying they actually live there – simply that it’s the place they feel most comfortable and happy.

Related: 83 Best Words to Describe a Student

Final Thoughts

Use the above metaphors however you like. You might want to share them with friends and colleagues, use them as a warm up activity in a college seminar, or use these phrases in your everyday life.

If you have any additional metaphors about school or education that you can add, please comment below. If I like your metaphor, I’ll add it to this list!

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is IQ? (Intelligence Quotient)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 50 Durable Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 100 Consumer Goods Examples

4 thoughts on “23 Metaphors about School and Education that Pop!”

Why do u call school a dystopian world?

Hey, it’s because many people would find it to be an unpleasant and dehumanizing experience – much like living in a dictatorship. Cheers – Chris.

EDUCATION IS THE ERASER FOR HUMAN ERRORS

Awesome metaphor! Thanks for sharing 🙂

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29 Similes for Learning: The Mysteries of Education

Learning is a journey, an adventure, and a lifelong pursuit. It’s a process that constantly evolves, offering us the opportunity to grow and discover new horizons.

Similes are powerful tools in language that help us relate and understand complex concepts.

In this article, we’ll explore 29 unique similes for learning, each with its own vivid meaning and usage in a sentence. So, grab your curiosity, and let’s dive into the world of similes for learning!

What is a Simile for Learning?

Before we delve into the list of similes for learning, let’s clarify what a simile is and how it relates to the process of acquiring knowledge.

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What is a simile?

Identify the simile in the following sentence: “She swims like a fish.”

What is a metaphor?

Which of the following is a metaphor?

What is an idiom?

What does the idiom “break the ice” mean?

What is an adjective?

Choose the adjective in the following sentence: “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

What is an abbreviation?

What does the abbreviation “e.g.” stand for?

What is a verb?

Identify the verb in the following sentence: “The cat sleeps on the sofa.”

“Out of the frying pan into the fire” is an example of:

Which of the following is an adjective?

The abbreviation “NASA” stands for:

Choose the metaphor in the following sentence: “Time is a thief.”

What does the idiom “hit the books” mean?

Which of the following sentences contains a simile?

“LOL” is an abbreviation for:

Identify the verb in this sentence: “They whispered secrets into the night.”

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Simile Definition: A simile is a figure of speech that compares two different things, highlighting their similarities using the words “like” or “as.” Similes are used to create vivid and relatable imagery, making complex ideas more accessible.

When people talk about traveling, they sometimes use special sayings to describe it. You can find some of these sayings about travel here: Idioms for travel . Also, there are comparisons made to explain what travel is like in different ways, and you can explore them here: Metaphors for travel .

Similes for Learning

1. learning is like unraveling a mystery..

Meaning: Learning is akin to solving a mystery or puzzle. It involves uncovering hidden knowledge step by step.

In a Sentence: “Each new lesson in history class feels like unraveling a mystery from the past.”

2. Learning is as refreshing as a cool breeze on a hot day.

Meaning: Learning provides a refreshing and rejuvenating experience, especially when contrasted with the heat of ignorance or stagnation.

In a Sentence: “After hours of studying, the moment of understanding a difficult concept is as refreshing as a cool breeze on a hot day.”

3. Learning is as vast as the ocean.

Meaning: Learning is boundless and limitless, just like the vastness of the ocean. There’s always more to explore.

In a Sentence: “The world of literature is as vast as the ocean, with countless books waiting to be read.”

4. Learning is like a journey into the unknown.

Meaning: Learning is an adventure that takes you into uncharted territories, filled with surprises and discoveries.

In a Sentence: “Starting a new language feels like embarking on a thrilling journey into the unknown.”

5. Learning is as bright as a shining star.

Meaning: Learning illuminates our minds and lives, just like a shining star brightens the night sky.

In a Sentence: “Her passion for science made her eyes light up, like a shining star in the dark.”

6. Learning is as steady as a flowing river.

Meaning: Learning is a continuous and steady process, like the flow of a river that never ceases.

In a Sentence: “Improving your skills through practice is as steady as a flowing river; progress may be slow but is constant.”

7. Learning is like putting together a puzzle.

Meaning: Learning involves gathering pieces of knowledge and fitting them together to form a complete picture.

In a Sentence: “Studying biology is like putting together a complex puzzle where each concept is a crucial piece.”

8. Learning is as powerful as a roaring thunderstorm.

Meaning: Learning empowers us and can have a profound impact, just like the force of a roaring thunderstorm.

In a Sentence: “The knowledge gained from history lessons can be as powerful as a roaring thunderstorm, shaping our understanding of the world.”

9. Learning is like planting seeds for future growth.

Meaning: Learning is an investment in the future, where the knowledge acquired today will bear fruit in the days to come.

In a Sentence: “Attending college is like planting seeds for future growth, ensuring a brighter tomorrow.”

10. Learning is as exciting as a rollercoaster ride.

Meaning: Learning can be a thrilling and exhilarating experience, filled with ups and downs.

In a Sentence: “Exploring the mysteries of space is as exciting as a rollercoaster ride through the cosmos.”

11. Learning is like discovering hidden treasure.

Meaning: Learning uncovers valuable insights and knowledge, much like discovering hidden treasures.

In a Sentence: “Reading classic literature is like discovering hidden treasure chests of wisdom and storytelling.”

12. Learning is as illuminating as a ray of sunshine.

Meaning: Learning enlightens our minds and brings clarity, just like a ray of sunshine dispels darkness.

In a Sentence: “The teacher’s explanation was as illuminating as a ray of sunshine, clearing up our doubts.”

13. Learning is as sweet as a ripe fruit.

Meaning: Learning can be a delightful experience, similar to the sweet satisfaction of biting into a ripe fruit.

In a Sentence: “Mastering a new musical instrument is as sweet as a ripe fruit, rewarding your dedication.”

14. Learning is like a constant exploration.

Meaning: Learning is an ongoing adventure where there is always something new to discover.

In a Sentence: “The world of science is like a constant exploration, with researchers always seeking the next breakthrough.”

15. Learning is as essential as breathing.

Meaning: Learning is a fundamental and indispensable part of life, just like breathing is essential for survival.

In a Sentence: “For a curious mind, learning is as essential as breathing; it’s something you do instinctively.”

16. Learning is like a bridge to new horizons.

Meaning: Learning acts as a bridge that connects you to new opportunities, experiences, and perspectives.

In a Sentence: “A college education can be like a bridge to new horizons, opening doors to diverse career paths.”

17. Learning is as dynamic as a raging wildfire.

Meaning: Learning is a dynamic and powerful force that can spread rapidly, like a wildfire.

In a Sentence: “The enthusiasm of the young learners in the classroom was as dynamic as a raging wildfire.”

18. Learning is like a building block for success.

Meaning: Learning forms the foundation upon which success is built, one piece at a time.

In a Sentence: “Each skill learned is like a building block for success, contributing to your personal and professional growth.”

19. Learning is as boundless as the sky.

Meaning: Learning knows no boundaries or limits, much like the vast expanse of the sky.

In a Sentence: “The possibilities in the field of technology are as boundless as the sky, with innovations happening every day.”

20. Learning is as invigorating as a morning run.

Meaning: Learning can be energizing and rejuvenating, similar to the invigoration one feels after a morning run.

In a Sentence: “Exploring new cultures through travel is as invigorating as a morning run; it refreshes your perspective.”

21. Learning is like a symphony of knowledge.

Meaning: Learning involves harmoniously combining different pieces of knowledge, creating a beautiful symphony of understanding.

In a Sentence: “Studying the history of art is like experiencing a symphony of knowledge, where each era contributes a unique note.”

22. Learning is as adaptable as a chameleon.

Meaning: Learning is flexible and can adapt to different situations and challenges, much like a chameleon changing colors.

In a Sentence: “The ability to learn from feedback and adapt is as valuable as a chameleon’s skill to blend into its surroundings.”

23. Learning is like a key to unlock doors.

Meaning: Learning opens doors of opportunity and access to new experiences and knowledge.

In a Sentence: “Mastering a foreign language can be like a key to unlock doors to a world of new friendships and cultures.”

24. Learning is as intricate as a spider’s web.

Meaning: Learning can be complex and intricately connected, much like the delicate threads of a spider’s web.

In a Sentence: “Understanding the intricacies of mathematics is as challenging as deciphering a spider’s web of formulas.”

25. Learning is as steady as a beating heart.

Meaning: Learning is a constant presence in our lives, similar to the steady rhythm of a beating heart.

In a Sentence: “In the pursuit of knowledge, curiosity keeps your mind as steady as a beating heart, always seeking more.”

26. Learning is like a ladder to climb higher.

Meaning: Learning provides the means to progress and move upward in life, much like a ladder helps you ascend.

In a Sentence: “Education is like a ladder to climb higher in your career, offering opportunities for advancement.”

27. Learning is as transformative as a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.

Meaning: Learning can bring about profound transformations, similar to the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly.

In a Sentence: “The experience of learning a new skill can be as transformative as a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, changing your capabilities.”

28. Learning is like a never-ending book of wisdom.

Meaning: Learning is an ongoing source of knowledge and wisdom, much like a book with infinite pages.

In a Sentence: “The world of science is like a never-ending book of wisdom, with each discovery adding a new chapter.”

29. Learning is as valuable as a rare gem.

Meaning: Learning is precious and holds immense value, similar to the rarity and worth of a precious gem.

In a Sentence: “Acquiring expertise in a specialized field is as valuable as a rare gem, sought after for its uniqueness.”

Here are 10 quiz questions related to the similes mentioned in the article:

Quiz 1: Unraveling Mysteries

• What does the simile “Learning is like unraveling a mystery” imply? a. Learning is always easy and straightforward. b. Learning involves uncovering knowledge step by step. c. Learning is as simple as solving a puzzle. d. Learning is similar to solving riddles.

Quiz 2: Refreshing Learning

• What is the meaning behind “Learning is as refreshing as a cool breeze on a hot day”? a. Learning is a tedious and tiresome process. b. Learning is invigorating, especially when compared to stagnation. c. Learning is a boring and monotonous activity. d. Learning is like a refreshing drink on a hot day.

Quiz 3: The Vastness of Learning

• In the simile “Learning is as vast as the ocean,” what does the word “vast” represent? a. Learning has strict limitations. b. Learning is boundless and extensive. c. Learning is simple and straightforward. d. Learning is like a small puddle.

Quiz 4: Learning as a Journey

• How does the simile “Learning is like a journey into the unknown” describe the process of learning? a. Learning is always predictable. b. Learning is an adventure with unknown outcomes. c. Learning is a linear and boring path. d. Learning is similar to a planned trip.

Quiz 5: Bright Learning

• What does the simile “Learning is as bright as a shining star” suggest about the impact of learning? a. Learning is a dark and confusing process. b. Learning brings clarity and enlightenment. c. Learning is unrelated to stars and brightness. d. Learning is like a shining comet.

Quiz 6: Steady Learning

• What is the main characteristic of “Learning is as steady as a flowing river”? a. Learning happens in short bursts. b. Learning is turbulent and unpredictable. c. Learning is a constant and consistent process. d. Learning is like a stagnant pond.

Quiz 7: Puzzle-Like Learning

• How does the simile “Learning is like putting together a puzzle” describe the process of acquiring knowledge? a. Learning is always straightforward and clear. b. Learning involves connecting different pieces of knowledge. c. Learning is a solitary and boring activity. d. Learning is like reading a storybook.

Quiz 8: Powerful Learning

• What does the simile “Learning is as powerful as a roaring thunderstorm” imply about the influence of learning? a. Learning is insignificant and weak. b. Learning has a profound impact and influence. c. Learning is similar to a gentle breeze. d. Learning is unrelated to weather phenomena.

Quiz 9: Learning as a Seed

• What does the simile “Learning is like planting seeds for future growth” suggest about the long-term benefits of learning? a. Learning has no impact on the future. b. Learning is only relevant in the present. c. Learning is an investment that leads to future growth. d. Learning is a short-term endeavor.

Quiz 10: Exciting Learning

• How does the simile “Learning is as exciting as a rollercoaster ride” describe the experience of acquiring new knowledge? a. Learning is a dull and monotonous activity. b. Learning is a thrilling adventure with ups and downs. c. Learning is similar to reading a bedtime story. d. Learning is like a calm and predictable journey.

In the tapestry of life, learning is the thread that weaves together experiences, insights, and growth. These similes for learning paint a vivid picture of the journey of acquiring knowledge, making it relatable and easy to understand.

Whether it’s unraveling mysteries, discovering hidden treasures, or climbing higher on the ladder of education, each simile brings a unique perspective to the wonderful world of learning.

About the author

Dr. Julia Rossi

Dr. Julia Rossi , a luminary in the field of linguistics, earned her Ph.D. with a groundbreaking thesis that delved into the cultural and historical dimensions of idioms, metaphors, and similes. Her work, spanning decades, has brought to light the dynamic nature of idiomatic expressions, illustrating how they serve as cultural artifacts, revealing the collective consciousness of a society. Rossi’s publications, widely acclaimed in academic circles, have not only expanded our understanding of idioms but have also paved the way for a more nuanced appreciation of cross-cultural communication.

Word Of The Day

Ephemeral (adjective) :

• Lasting for a very short time; short-lived; transitory.
• Existing only briefly; temporary; fleeting.

Example sentence: “The beauty of the cherry blossoms is ephemeral, lasting only a few weeks each spring.”

English Vocabulary Flashcards

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Creativity Famous 30 Similes for Education

Actual and special 30 Similes for Education

Education is the basic part of our life. Also, we come to know its importance when we watch huge examples of education from the life of Hazrat Muhammad (SAW). Furthermore, Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) ordered everyone to get education from  Mother’s lap to the grave. So, we should also get education at every cost. 

“Similes for education” and schooling help us understand why it is important to our lives. Just as a painter built a masterpiece with each stroke of the brush, so too do educators craft knowledge with each lesson.

Let’s watch these inspiring similes about learning and gain a new perspective on the world of education with detail.

Similes for Education

1. “education is as essential as breathing.”.

Meaning: It means that it’s not an option but a fundamental necessity for itself growth and survival.

In the Sentence: His parents tried to understand him that education is as essential as breathing.

2. “Learning is Like a Journey that Never Ends.”

Meaning: It means that education is an endless adventure, should you be at any stage of the age.

In the Sentence: His teacher told that life is a continuous quest for learning for everybody, like a journey that never ends.

3. “Knowledge is a Quilt Woven.”

Meaning: It is used at that time when we try someone’s knowledge together from various life lessons.

In the Sentence: Their knowledge can be a quilt woven together to earn a huge amount of money from various life lessons.

4. “Learning Is Like Swimming Through Mud.”

Meaning: It means that education requires a ton of effort but it still seems to be hard to make any progress.

In the Sentence: In that time when his father wasn’t with him, he tried his best to earn education like swimming through mud, but all his efforts were in vain.

5. “Education is a Bridge.”

Meaning: It means connecting dreams to reality.

In the Sentence: Her education makes the reason for completing her dreams like a bridge.

6. “Learning Is Like Cracking A Code.”

Meaning: It means that learning involves problem solving and critical thinking.

In the Sentence: Like cracking a code, we might also need patience as we work on our ideas and try to figure out the right answers.

7. “Knowledge is as Influential as a Mentor.”

Meaning: It’s reflecting our success and development.

In the Sentence: The lesson which he got from cheating  towards his close friend, it provides a guiding him through life’s complexities like a mentor.

8. “Learning is Like Climbing a Mountain.”

Meaning: It means that it needs a lot of hard work to reach the top of his goal but when he’ll achieve this, will feel better.

In the Sentence: To get 1st position in the board exam for her is like climbing a mountain.

9. “Knowledge is Like a Transformative.”

Meaning: It means that knowledge changes the uneducated person into an educator person.

In the Sentence: A caterpillar turns into a butterfly like a unique transformative .

10. “Learning is Like Building a House.”

Meaning: It shows that learning happens one step at a time. Also, when you complete your education, you get something at the end: a strong building built on solid foundations of knowledge.

In the Sentence: His concentration in his study is like building a house.

11. “Education is as Timeless as the Stars.”

Meaning: It means that knowledge will always live in this world.

In the Sentence: The world is learning the education like a timeless as the stars.

12. “Knowledge is as Deep as a Well.”

Meaning: It points out the importance of knowledge to us with the help of a deep well.

In the Sentence: The more he studied, the more he realized that the well of knowledge was more deep and full of impactful.

13. “Education is a Ladder.”

Meaning: It means that helps us climb towards our aspirations.

In the Sentence: With her education, climbing towards her aspirations of the future is like a ladder.

  14. “Teaching is like a Sculptor with a Block of Marble.”

Meaning: It means that education shapes our potential.

In the Sentence: Her education proved best to live together in every situation for family like a sculptor with a block of marble.

15. “Learning is Like Solving a Puzzle.”

Meaning: It means that it requires time, patience and hard work to slowly build knowledge in your mind.

In the Sentence: This chapter of the Chemistry understand to my younger brother isn’t easy like solving a puzzle.

16. “Education is a Garden.”

Meaning: It means that  seeds of curiosity blossom into understanding.

In the Sentence: His education grew his personality like a garden.

17. “Teaching is like Guiding a SShip Through Rough Waters.”

Meaning: It means that educators give full support to his people in the form of  challenging times and help them overcome arduous situations .

In the Sentence: This school headmaster’s guidance was like that of a skilled captain, leading her students safely from arduous situations.

18. “Knowledge is Like Wrestling a Lion.”

Meaning: It means that to earn something in life, to keep struggling to learn and understand.

In the Sentence: He tells his sister that study or learning in arduous conditions is like wrestling a lion.

19. “Knowledge is Akin to a Key.”

Meaning: It means unlocking the doors to endless opportunities.

In the Sentence: Her Knowledge helps a lot to explore new things which is akin to a key, and this ability of his is to impress everyone.

20. “Teaching is Like Shaping the Future.”

Meaning: It means that education plays an essential role to alter the shape of the future.

In the Sentence: His father understood that her role wasn’t just learning but shaping the future of his children.

21. “Learning Is Like Eating An Elephant.”

Meaning: It means for blind or foolish people it is hard to digest education. In short, some people can’t remember lessons for a long time.

In the Sentence: She can’t digest the secret for a long time like eating An Elephant.

22. “Knowledge is a Toolkit.”

Meaning: It means that it is empowering us to tackle life’s challenges.

In the Sentence: I’m happy to see him when he’s stuck in any difficult situation of his life, his knowledge helps a lot to remove himself from this difficult situation like a toolkit.

23. “Teaching is Like Igniting a Spark.”

Meaning: It means that every teacher has the ability to discover the passion of study and writing.

In the Sentence: His mother is so intelligent that she finds all the ability to handle his children like igniting a spark.

24. “Education is Like a Light in the Darkness.”

Meaning: It means that study serves as a beacon of education. So that everybody dispel from darkness ignorance and go towards the path to enlightenment.

In the Sentence: In this village, the government has built a new school for children where education is like a light in the darkness.

25. “Learning Is Like Making New Friends.”

Meaning: It means that friends provide advice, input in our lives. When we learn new things, we get some similar benefits.

In the Sentence: To earn education for him in this modern world isn’t arduous like making new friends because it is available everywhere in the form online and offline.

 26. “Education is as Valuable as Gold.”

Meaning: It means that some people understand that education is of immeasurable worth.

In the Sentence: When their family was stuck in a critical situation, their younger daughter realizes that education is as valuable as gold.

27. “Learning is Like a Sunrise.”

Meaning: It means bringing new perspectives and opportunities.

In the Sentence: The headmaster of this college provides a new opportunity to convey the best method of studying for students like a sunrise , which will prove very essential in future.

28. “Knowledge is as Precious as a Gem.”

Meaning: It means that knowledge is very essential like a rare gem in everybody’s life in this age.

In the Sentence: She’s so conscious in the matter of knowledge and always keeps it like a very expensive gem.

29. “Education is as Fundamental as a Foundation.”

Meaning: It means that education gives a strong platform on which people can physique their futures.

In the Sentence: Their education reaches them on that point of success where they become a stronger personality like a fundamental as a foundation everyone trusts in them.

30. “Education is Like a Passport.”

Meaning: It means that someone lives into a world of endless possibilities.

In the Sentence: To earn education in excess, make him so conscious about study like a passport, which has the ability to give a lot of essential and peaceful things.

Yes of course, this article provides a very powerful message and knowledge to our users that to earn education for young and elderly people is very essential. And it makes our life complete.

“Similes for education” have proved very helpful against those people who think that to earn education is a burden. Even, we can also prove wrong their thought and even change through these similes.

Now, we have reached the endpoint of our discussion, where we clearly understand what kind of knowledge, teaching, studying, and learning are essential for us. And also have known how our teachers work hard working to donate the best knowledge.

Lastly, we tried our best to tell you that studying and education is a very important part of our life, and without it we’re incomplete. Now, if you have any issues related to it, you can share it with us through comments below. We’ll try our best to solve your issues on time. Also, thanks for reading.

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What Is a Simile? 60+ Examples and Teaching Ideas

A simile is as vivid as a rainbow.

Similes are one of the most popular literary devices, alongside their cousins metaphors and analogies. But how can you identify a simile? Learn the details here, plus find lots of engaging simile examples and fun teaching ideas.

What is a simile?

Simply put, a simile (say “SIM-uh-lee”) is a comparison between two things, usually using the words “like” or “as.” These comparisons are used to describe something, usually with colorful and expressive language. Similes help make a point or paint a clearer picture of the item being described.

• Example: The bad news struck them like a bolt of lightning.

Similes are a type of figurative language, in which words or phrases are meaningful but not strictly true. In the above example, the reader isn’t meant to believe that the people were actually struck by lightning. Instead, the simile helps the reader feel how shocking the news was to the recipients.

Need some help remembering the definition? Note that “simile” sounds like “similar.” When you make a comparison between two similar things, using “like” or “as,” that’s a simile.

Simile vs. Metaphor

It’s easy to get similes and metaphors confused, since both are types of comparisons. However, in a metaphor, you won’t find the words “like” or “as.” A metaphor states directly that one thing is another thing.

• Simile: Her smile is like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.
• Metaphor: Her smile is the sunshine we need on such a cloudy day.

Learn more about metaphors here.

Common Simile Examples

These similes are well-known figures of speech, found frequently in all sorts of writing.

• Bright like the sun
• Cold as ice
• Cool as a cucumber
• Dead as a doornail
• Deaf as a post
• Easy as pie
• Fresh as a daisy
• Helpless as a baby
• Kind as an angel
• Light as a feather
• Like two peas in a pod
• Run like the wind
• Sleep like a baby
• Slow as molasses in winter
• Shine like a star
• Sharp like a knife
• Straight as an arrow
• Sweet as sugar
• Tall as a mountain
• White as a ghost

Animal Simile Examples

Similes often use animals, making comparisons to their behaviors and characteristics. Here’s a selection of popular animal similes.

• Big as an elephant
• Blind as a bat
• Brave as a lion
• Busy as a bee
• Fight like cats and dogs
• Float like a butterfly
• Free as a bird
• Gentle as a lamb
• Hop like a bunny
• Hungry as a bear
• Jump like a kangaroo
• Mad as a hornet
• Proud as a peacock
• Soar like an eagle
• Slippery as an eel
• Slow as a snail
• Sly as a fox
• Snore like a bear
• Swim like a fish
• Wise as an owl

Simile Examples From Literature

Authors and poets frequently use similes in their works, bringing life and meaning to their compositions. Check out these incredible simile examples for inspiration.

• “She walks in beauty like the night / Of cloudless climes and starry skies.” ( “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron)
• “What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun?” ( “Harlem” by Langston Hughes)
• “O my Luve is like a red, red rose / That’s newly sprung in June.” ( “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns)
• “Continuous as the stars that shine / And twinkle on the milky way.” ( “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth)
• “Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.” ( A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)
• “In the eastern sky there was a yellow patch like a rug laid for the feet of the coming sun.” ( The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane)
• “The very mystery of him excited her curiosity like a door that had neither lock nor key.” ( Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell)
• “The water made a sound like kittens lapping.” ( The Yearling , by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings)
• “Elderly American ladies leaning on their canes listed towards me like towers of Pisa.” ( Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov)
• “Up above the world so high / like a diamond in the sky.” (“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” by Anonymous)

Simile Examples From Songs

Song lyrics are full of similes, like those found in these examples.

• “When your heart’s just like a drum / Beating louder with no way to guard it.” (“Permission to Dance” by BTS)
• “My love is like a rocket / Watch it blast off.” (“Levitating” by Dua Lipa)
• “You look like a movie, you sound like a song.” (“When We Were Young” by Adele)
• “Shine bright like a diamond.” (“Diamonds” by Rihanna)
• “I will be rising from the ground like a skyscraper.” (“Skyscraper” by Demi Lovato)
• “Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead-end street.” (“Red” by Taylor Swift)
• “And it seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind.” (“Candle in the Wind” by Elton John)
• “Like a rock, I was strong as I could be.” (“Like a Rock” by Bob Seeger)
• “I’m like a bird, I only fly away.” (“I’m Like a Bird” by Nelly Furtado)
• “Hit me like a ray of sun burning through my darkest night.” (“Halo” by Beyoncé)

How To Teach Similes

Looking for some creative ideas for teaching similes in the classroom? Try these clever activities.

Create a simile rainbow

Color similes are a terrific way to start learning this type of figurative speech. Even very young students can come up with color comparisons. Grab a free printable to use at the link, or simply color your own rainbow and add similes to each stripe.

Learn more: Simile Rainbow via The Classroom Creative

Write Hershey’s Kiss similes

Every kid loves learning with a sweet snack! After they use their five senses to describe the candy, students can write similes to bring the descriptions to life.

Learn more: Hershey’s Kiss Similes via Teacher by the Beach

Craft simile mobiles

Pick an item for the main part of the mobile, then write similes on the tags that hang from it. These would make great classroom decorations.

Learn more: Simile Mobiles via School Time Snippets

Visit Planet Simile

Use your imaginations to dream up what aliens from another planet would look like. Then, describe them using lots of creative similes.

Learn more: Planet Simile via Teaching Tales Along the Yellow Brick Road

Read a mentor text

Dive into pretty much any book, and you’ll find similes galore! Choose a text to share with your class, and have them jot down similes on sticky notes as they hear them. Add them all to an anchor chart you can refer to later on.

Learn more: Simile Mentor Text via Tara Teaches

What simile examples do you use to help drive the concept home? Come share your ideas and ask for advice in the We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

Plus, 75+ appealing alliteration examples (plus teaching ideas) ..

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Simile Definition

What is simile? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like" or "as," but can also use other words that indicate an explicit comparison. Eleanor Roosevelt's line, " A woman is like a teabag —you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water," is an example of simile. Roosevelt compares two unlike things, women and teabags, to describe how women reveal the full extent of their strength in tough situations.

Some additional key details about simile:

• Because the comparison established by a simile is not literal (a woman isn't literally like a teabag), similes are a form of figurative language .
• While most similes use the connecting words "like" or "as" to establish the comparison they're making, similes can use other words that create a direct comparison, including other connecting words (such as, "so" or "than") or verbs of comparison (such as, "compare" and "resemble").
• Some similes have become such a common part of everyday speech that we barely notice them, for instance, when we say "I slept like a log" or "The news hit me like a ton of bricks."

How to Pronounce Simile

Here's how to pronounce simile: sim -ih-lee

Simile vs. Metaphor

Similes and metaphors are both figures of speech that involve the comparison of unlike things. They are also both types of figurative language, because they both create meaning beyond the literal sense of their words. However, simile and metaphor do not make a comparison in the same way. Some people may explain the difference between simile and metaphor by discussing the structure of the language used in each one:

• Similes use the words "like" or "as" to establish their comparison: "The world is like your oyster."
• Metaphors state the comparison without such connecting words: "The world is your oyster."

While the presence of a connecting word, such as "like" or "as," is generally a good rule of thumb to identify similes versus metaphors, it doesn't really get at the root of the difference between the two figures of speech. A deeper way to understand the difference is through the nature of the comparison each one makes:

• A simile makes an explicit comparison by asserting that two different things are similar . A simile sets thing A and thing B side by side to compare them. In the sentence "The world is like your oyster," the listener is asked to mentally visualize and compare "the world" and "an oyster"—as though he or she were holding one in each hand—and draw a comparison between the two.
• A metaphor asserts an implicit comparison by stating that one thing is the other thing . Instead of setting two entities A and B side by side through the use of connecting words, metaphor superimposes them. The metaphor "The world is your oyster" asks the reader to imagine his or her relationship to the world as being the relationship of an oyster to the space inside its shell.

This isn't to say that either a simile or metaphor is stronger or better than the other, just that they are subtly different in the sort of comparison they create, and this difference affects how a reader imaginatively interacts with the text.

Is a Simile a Type of Metaphor?

There is also some debate about whether similes and metaphors are similar but different things, or whether simile is actually a specialized form of metaphor. Arguments on the topic can become surprisingly heated, but all you need to know is that there are competing definitions of metaphor, and whether a simile is a type of metaphor depends on the definition of metaphor you're using. For instance, the Oxford Companion to English Language gives two definitions of metaphor:

• Metaphor: All figures of speech that achieve their effect through association, comparison, and resemblance. Figures like antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy, simile are all species of metaphor.
• Metaphor: A figure of speech which concisely compares two things by saying that one is the other.

Under the first, broad definition of a metaphor, a simile is a type of metaphor. Under the second, narrower definition, it isn't.

Simile Examples

Similes appear in all sorts of writing, from prose literature, to poetry, to music lyrics, and beyond.

Examples of Simile in Literature

Writers use simile to add color and feeling to their writing and to allow readers to see something in a new way through the comparison that the simile creates. Simile can be used to render the familiar strange and unusual, to make the strange seem familiar, or to draw a surprising association between things that don't seem to belong together.

Simile in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

In this example from The Great Gatsby , Nick Carraway describes Tom and Daisy Buchanan's mansion in Long Island. Nick is from the midwest and has never encountered the level of luxury he discovers on his first visit to the Buchanans' home:

A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags , twisting them up toward the frosted wedding cake of the ceiling—and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea. The only completely stationary object in the room was an enormous couch on which two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon. They were both in white and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house. I must have stood for a few moments listening to the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of a picture on the wall. Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room, and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor.

Not only does Fitzgerald's use of simile convey Nick's astonishment at the extent of the Buchanans' wealth, but it also enlivens what might otherwise have been an unremarkable description. Without simile, the passage would read something like, "The wind blew through the room. It ruffled the women's clothing. Tom shut the window and the wind stopped." Fitzgerald's similes bring the room to life.

Simile in Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, Sonnet 97, and Sonnet 130

No discussion of simile would be complete without a reference to Shakespeare's sonnets. One of his most well-known similes is the opening line of Sonnet 18, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" (That simile is also a good example of a simile that contains a word other than "like" or "as" to establish its comparison.)

In Sonnet 97, the narrator compares his separation from his beloved to a barren winter, even though the couple was actually separated during the summer. (The narrator admits this in the line, "And yet this time removed was summer's time"):

How like a winter hath my absence been From thee , the pleasure of the fleeting year! What freezings have a I felt, what dark days seen! What old December's bareness everywhere! And yet this time removed was summer's time The teeming autumn big with rich increase, Bearing the wanton burthen of the prime, Like widowed wombs after their lords' decease.

In Sonnet 130, Shakespeare challenges the traditional function of similes and the conventions of love poetry:

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground. And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare

In Sonnet 130, Shakespeare actually comments on the way similes function within conventional sonnets about love by turning all of the would-be similes into negative similes. Instead of writing that his mistress' eyes are like the sun, that her lips are red as coral, her breasts as white as snow, and so on, Shakespeare says that her eyes are "nothing like the sun," and that, "coral is far more red" than her lips. It's as though the he's acknowledging the fact that many similes have become hackneyed or clichéd, and he's instead proposing to pay a more meaningful tribute to his love by inverting those similes and treating her like a real-life woman.

Simile in Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio

"Hands," one of the short stories in Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, tells the tale of Winesburg resident Wing Biddlebaum. Biddlebaum is a shy old man who keeps to himself, yet becomes animated and talkative in the presence of his only friend, a reporter named George Willard:

The story of Wing Biddlebaum is a story of hands. Their restless activity, like unto the beating of the wings of an imprisoned bird , had given him his name. Some obscure poet of the town had thought of it. The hands alarmed their owner. He wanted to keep them hidden away and looked with amazement at the quiet inexpressive hands of other men who worked beside him in the fields, or passed, driving sleepy teams on country roads.

The "obscure poet's" simile, which likens the "restless activity" of Wing's hands "unto the beating of the wings of an imprisoned bird" is also the source of the character's nickname. Further, Wing Biddlebaum's social role in the community is similar to that of an imprisoned bird, in the sense that he lives apart from the rest of the town, shut off from companionship.

Simile in Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance , the narrator undertakes a cross-country motorcycle trip with his son Chris, his friend Sylvia, and her husband John. The motorists pride themselves on taking scenic backroads that prolong their journey, but better suit their solitary, contemplative style of traveling. When they cross a main road one Monday morning, Sylvia makes the following observation about the grim-looking commuters:

"It was all those people in the cars coming the other way...The first one looked so sad. And then the next one looked exactly the same way, and then the next one and the next one, they were all the same...Its just that they looked so lost... Like they were all dead. Like a funeral procession. "

Sylvia compares the drivers to members of a funeral procession because she feels that, in rushing from point A to point B, the commuters are missing out the pleasure of life and travel.

Simile in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

In this example from Slaughterhouse-Five , Billy Pilgrim emerges from an underground slaughterhouse where he has been held prisoner by the Germans during the deadly World War II firebombing of Dresden:

It wasn't safe to come out of the shelter until noon the next day. When the Americans and their guards did come out, the sky was black with smoke. The sun was an angry little pinhead. Dresden was like the moon now, nothing but minerals . The stones were hot. Everybody else in the neighborhood was dead.

Vonnegut compares the bombed city of Dresden to the moon in order to capture the totality of the devastation—the city is so lifeless that it is like the barren moon.

Note that Vonnegut also emphasizes the destruction of the city by exaggerating the air pollution created by the bombs ("the sky was black with smoke"). This type of exaggeration for literary or rhetorical purposes is called hyperbole, which can sometimes overlap with simile. To read more about the relationship between the two figures of speech, please see our page on hyperbole .

Examples of Simile in Music

Simile can create vivid images, making language more memorable and emotional. For this reason, musicians across genres regularly use simile in their song lyrics.

Simile in "Gone" by Kanye West

In "Gone," Kanye west compares disloyal aspiring MCs to Anakin Skywalker of Star Wars , who went bad and became Darth Vader.

I'ma open up a store for aspiring MCs Won't sell em no dream, but the inspiration is free But if they ever flip sides like Anakin You'll sell everything including the mannequin

Simile in "Candle in the Wind" by Elton John

"Candle in the Wind" is Elton John's tribute to Marylin Monroe. In referring to Marylin as a "candle in the wind," John portrays her as a vulnerable and fragile person who was often preyed upon by those who made her famous.

And it seems to me you lived your life Like a candle in the wind Never knowing who to cling to When the rain set in And I would have liked to have known you But I was just a kid Your candle burned out long before Your legend ever did

Simile in "Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is many great things but "nice" is not one of them. In his most commercially successful release of all time, Dylan compares the song's addressee—presumably, an ex-girlfriend who is going through tough times—to a rolling stone:

Once upon a time you dressed so fine Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you? People call say 'beware doll, you're bound to fall' You thought they were all kidding you You used to laugh about Everybody that was hanging out Now you don't talk so loud Now you don't seem so proud About having to be scrounging your next meal How does it feel, how does it feel? To be without a home Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

Why Do Writers Use Simile?

Writers, and people in general, use simile to create memorable images with language, which allow them to vividly recount experiences and emotions. Poets often use simile to make concepts or ideas that are difficult to grasp more concrete, as in Langston Hughes' "A Dream Deferred":

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun ? Or fester like a sore — And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load . Or does it explode?

"A Dream Deferred" was published in Langston Hughes' collection Harlem, in which Hughes meditates on the experience of black Americans. Through the use of simile in this particular poem, Hughes gives physical heft to the dreams of black people living in Harlem and across the country—dreams which are often destroyed, postponed and ignored as a result of racial prejudice. By comparing dreams to material things, such as "raisins" and "rotten meat," Hughes implies that dreams are a concrete part of reality not to be brushed aside, and that there are very real consequences to not pursuing them.

In addition, by using similes to compare one thing or idea to a completely different thing, writers can make readers see the world in a new way. Put another way, writers can use the comparison created by a simile to reveal a figurative truth beyond the literal truth.

Other Helpful Simile Resources

• The Wikipedia Page on Simile: A very brief explanation of the term.
• The Dictionary Definition of simile: A basic definition and etymology of the term, which comes from Latin word for "image, likeness, or comparison."
• Simile vs. Metaphor: An interesting compendium of thoughts on the differences between simile and metaphor.
• A video in which "Old Spice Guy" Isaiah Mustafa shares a simile with his followers.
• A scene built around simile from Disney's Shrek .

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Simile examples for intermediate readers.

• “Food?”  Chris inquired, popping out of his seat like a toaster strudel.
• Grandpa lounged on the raft in the middle of the pool like an old battleship.
• If seen from above the factory, the workers would have looked like clock parts.
• The truth was like a bad taste on his tongue.
• The people who still lived in the town were stuck in place like wax statues.
• Cassie talked to her son about girls as though she were giving him tax advice.
• Alan’s jokes were like flat soda to the children, surprisingly unpleasant.
• My mother’s kitchen was like a holy place: you couldn’t wear your shoes, you had to sit there at a certain time, and occasionally we’d pray.
• The bottle rolled off the table like a teardrop.
• The handshake felt like warm laundry.
• She hung her head like a dying flower.
• Arguing with her was like dueling with hand grenades.
• The classroom was as quiet as a tongue-tied librarian in a hybrid car.
• Janie’s boyfriend appreciated her as an ape might appreciate an algebra book.
• The clouds were like ice-cream castles in the sky.
• The shingles on the shack shook in the storm winds like scared children.
• When he reached the top of the hill, he felt as strong as a steel gate.
• When the tree branch broke, Millie fell from the limb like a robin’s egg.
• She swam through the waters like she was falling through a warm dream.
• They children ran like ripples through water.
• Mikhail scattered his pocket change in front of the beggars like crumbs of bread.
• Her hair was as soft as a spider web.
• Each dollar bill was a like a magic wand to cast away problems.
• The man held the blanket like a memory.
• The ice sculptor’s hands fluttered like hummingbird wings.
• I’m about as awesome as a flying giraffe.
• You are soft as the nesting dove.
• Andre charged down the football field like it was the War of 1812.
• The stars looked like stupid little fish.
• Her laughter was like a warm blanket or a familiar song.
• The river flows like a stream of glass
• Blood seeped out of the wound like red teardrops.
• Paul carried his science project to school like he was transporting explosive glass.
• She looked at me like I was speaking in some strange alien tongue.
• The town square was buzzing like a beehive.
• Kelsey followed her dreams like most kids would follow a big sister.
• Kyle looked at the test with a stare as blank as his notebook.
• The robins are as thick today as flakes of snow were yesterday,
• Her eyes are like the eyes of statues.
• The gray moss drapes us like sages.
• The music burst like a bent-up flood.
• The curtains stir as with an ancient pain.
• But now her hands like moonlight brush the keys with velvet grace.
• I flitted like a dizzy moth.
• The flowers were as soft as thoughts of budding love.
• The gray of the sea, and the gray of the sky, / A glimpse of the moon like a half-closed eye.
• Yes, the doors are locked and the ashes are white as the frost.
• A mist about your beauty clings like a thin cloud before a star.
• She went like snow in the springtime on a sunny hill.
• Then I knew those tiny voices, clear as drops of dew.

Simile Examples for Advanced Readers

• I dream of silent verses where the rhyme glides noiseless as an oar.
• Though they knew it not, their baby’s cries were lovely as jeweled butterflies.
• He kissed her as though he were trying to win a sword fight.
• The paparazzi circled like vultures above a tottering camel.
• She was as distant as a remote tropical island, uncivilized, unspoiled.
• Our hearts, though stout and brave, still, like muffled drums, are beating funeral marches to the grave.
• He had hidden his wealth, heaped and hoarded and piled on high like sacks of wheat in a granary.
• Pieces of silver and of gold / Into the tinkling strong-box fell / Like pebbles dropped into a well;
• The cabin windows have grown blank as eyeballs of the dead.
• What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
• Each face was like the setting sun, / As, broad and red.
• Barefooted, ragged, with neglected hair, she was a thin slip of a girl, like a new moon.
• A fatal letter wings its way across the sea, like a bird of prey.
• I will sing a slumberous refrain, and you shall murmur like a child appeased.
• For she knows me! My heart, clear as a crystal beam / To her alone, ceases to be inscrutable.
• Leaf-strewing gales utter low wails like violins,
• He spit out his teeth like stones.
• Talk of your cold: through the parka’s fold it stabbed like a driven nail.
• Dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh.
• Like winged stars the fire-flies flash and glance, / Pale in the open moonshine.
• The breath of her false mouth was like faint flowers, / Her touch was as electric poison.
• Then, as a hunted deer that could not flee, I turned upon my thoughts and stood at bay, wounded and weak and panting;
• There are thick woods where many a fountain, rivulet, and pond are as clear as elemental diamond.
• Years heap their withered hours, like leaves, on our decay.
• The ripples wimple on the rills, like sparkling little lasses.
• She was like a modest flower blown in sunny June and warm as sun at noon’s high hour.
• And the face of the waters that spread away / Was as gray as the face of the dead.
• As in depths of many seas, my heart was drowned in memories.
• Then like a cold wave on a shore, comes silence and she sings no more.
• And shout thy loud battle-cry, cleaving the silence like a sword.
• My soul is lost and tossed like a ship unruddered in a shoreless sea.
• The clouds like crowds of snowy-hued and white-robed maidens pass
• Dreams, like ghosts, must hide away; / ‘Tis the day.
• The evening stretches before me like a road.
• I would have hours that move like a glitter of dancers.
• Toby manipulated the people in his life as though they were chess pieces.
• And only to think that my soul could not react, but turned on itself like a tortured snake.
• There are strange birds like blots against a sky.
• She goes all so softly like a shadow on the hill, a faint wind at twilight.
• The horse-chestnuts dropped their buds like tears.
• They walk in awful splendor, regal yet, wearing their crimes like rich and kingly capes.
• Death is like moonlight in a lofty wood that pours pale magic through the shadowy leaves.
• I was sick of all the sorrow and distress that flourished in the City like foul weeds.
• As I read it in the white, morning sunlight, the letters squirmed like snakes.
• Oh, praise me not the silent folk; / To me they only seem / Like leafless, bird-abandoned oak.
• The windflowers and the lilies were yellow striped as adder’s tongue.
• I have seen old ships sail like swans asleep.
• For the world’s events have rumbled on since those days like traffic.
• And dance as dust before the sun, light of foot and unconfined.
• The fishes skim like umber shades through the undulating weeds.
• Gather up the undiscovered universe like jewels in a jasper cup.

Common Core State Standards Related to Simile

CCSS.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.

163 Comments

I like similes….! am sober like a judge

I need a simile describing something negative at school

Esther Owate

I need similies that start with as

as cool as a cucumber

Patricia Wills-Obong

This Similie are awesome

Shiloh Jones

hey guys i need a simile thats about a blank white word document…. like ummmm

the blank white page stared at me like ….?

The blank. White page stared at me like as if there was something on my face

Delony Hamilton

Thank you it helped me with English and even helped me wrote a song.

she was screaming like a donkey and the donkey was screaming like my sister

Friendship is as sweet as ice-cream.

The clear water semmed like as if diamonds were melted into the water.

The clear water was like millions of melted diamonds.

It really helps this because we have assignment and I research for it about similes sentence ty

Abeeha Qadri

Is this sentence of metaphor is right: My sister’s memory is a camera that remembers everything we see

I need to write some similes for describing a hospital

Please help me with this…Write the similes of the following words- sold,tea,teach,reach,take,leave,fence,hear,son,earth please I need help with this words

Pls I need the following similes for… The clear water was like a…. The sick man was as …..as a child. The crafty man got his own way, he is a….

As anxious as…

so enlightening thanks its really good

the kittens fur was like velvet.

bill joy the 2nd

the banana was as yellow as the sun

I love dis. It helped me in doing my English assignment.

Plz help me out. I want to make sentences using both similies in a sentence. Plz help me plz at least five sentences I want

1.The true friendship is as sweet as ice cream 2.Honesty and laughter in a friendship are like bricks that support a building. 3. Friendship is like a circle that never end.s. 4.The heart of the person is like untracked nut. 5.The child is brave like lion.

Thanks for helping with my homework.

my head was aching like the downfall of ten thousand bombs

I am very happy to learn this topic

I’m so stuck with my English homework and I don’t know much about English language, so I need some help for these sentences to create a simile please:

1. A petrol bomb exploding 2. A military jail

Susan de la Vergne

Try freshening up your comparisons. Instead of “eyes blue as the sky” try “eyes blue as a shallow tropical lagoon at dawn.” One danger of similes is using cliches. Writing (and speaking) is much better without cliches.

My pillow was as hard as steel.

Martha Snyder

Help me with this. Write a simile to compare. A person’s eyes to the sky

eyes as blue as the sky or eyes as soft as the clouds

I need a simile The cellphone is like a The boy is small like a

A still pond is like Autumn leaves are like A volcano is like A poppy is like

I like this

i like this similes

Quite informative

this the thing that want and i got it now

please may you email some of your similies please

Why? They are here on this page.

i need a simile His golden fur was like…

Acre7227277272727272

His golden fur was like a candle in a dark room against the darkness behind him

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What Is a Simile? 60+ Examples and Teaching Ideas

Similes are one of the most popular literary devices, alongside their cousins metaphors and analogies. But how can you identify a simile? Learn the details here, plus find lots of engaging simile examples and fun teaching ideas.

What is a simile?

Simply put, a simile (say “SIM-uh-lee”) is a comparison between two things, usually using the words “like” or “as.” These comparisons are used to describe something, usually with colorful and expressive language. Similes help make a point or paint a clearer picture of the item being described.

• Example: The bad news struck them like a bolt of lightning.

Similes are a type of figurative language, in which words or phrases are meaningful but not strictly true. In the above example, the reader isn’t meant to believe that the people were actually struck by lightning. Instead, the simile helps the reader feel how shocking the news was to the recipients.

Need some help remembering the definition? Note that “simile” sounds like “similar.” When you make a comparison between two similar things, using “like” or “as,” that’s a simile.

Simile vs. Metaphor

It’s easy to get similes and metaphors confused, since both are types of comparisons. However, in a metaphor, you won’t find the words “like” or “as.” A metaphor states directly that one thing is another thing.

• Simile: Her smile is like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.
• Metaphor: Her smile is the sunshine we need on such a cloudy day.

Learn more about metaphors here.

Common Simile Examples

These similes are well-known figures of speech, found frequently in all sorts of writing.

• Bright like the sun
• Cold as ice
• Cool as a cucumber
• Dead as a doornail
• Deaf as a post
• Easy as pie
• Fresh as a daisy
• Helpless as a baby
• Kind as an angel
• Light as a feather
• Like two peas in a pod
• Run like the wind
• Sleep like a baby
• Slow as molasses in winter
• Shine like a star
• Sharp like a knife
• Straight as an arrow
• Sweet as sugar
• Tall as a mountain
• White as a ghost

Animal Simile Examples

Similes often use animals, making comparisons to their behaviors and characteristics. Here’s a selection of popular animal similes.

• Big as an elephant
• Blind as a bat
• Brave as a lion
• Busy as a bee
• Fight like cats and dogs
• Float like a butterfly
• Free as a bird
• Gentle as a lamb
• Hop like a bunny
• Hungry as a bear
• Jump like a kangaroo
• Mad as a hornet
• Proud as a peacock
• Soar like an eagle
• Slippery as an eel
• Slow as a snail
• Sly as a fox
• Snore like a bear
• Swim like a fish
• Wise as an owl

Simile Examples From Literature

Authors and poets frequently use similes in their works, bringing life and meaning to their compositions. Check out these incredible simile examples for inspiration.

• “She walks in beauty like the night / Of cloudless climes and starry skies.” ( “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron)
• “What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun?” ( “Harlem” by Langston Hughes)
• “O my Luve is like a red, red rose / That’s newly sprung in June.” ( “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns)
• “Continuous as the stars that shine / And twinkle on the milky way.” ( “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth)
• “Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.” ( A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)
• “In the eastern sky there was a yellow patch like a rug laid for the feet of the coming sun.” ( The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane)
• “The very mystery of him excited her curiosity like a door that had neither lock nor key.” ( Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell)
• “The water made a sound like kittens lapping.” ( The Yearling , by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings)
• “Elderly American ladies leaning on their canes listed towards me like towers of Pisa.” ( Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov)
• “Up above the world so high / like a diamond in the sky.” (“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” by Anonymous)

Simile Examples From Songs

Song lyrics are full of similes, like those found in these examples.

• “When your heart’s just like a drum / Beating louder with no way to guard it.” (“Permission to Dance” by BTS)
• “My love is like a rocket / Watch it blast off.” (“Levitating” by Dua Lipa)
• “You look like a movie, you sound like a song.” (“When We Were Young” by Adele)
• “Shine bright like a diamond.” (“Diamonds” by Rihanna)
• “I will be rising from the ground like a skyscraper.” (“Skyscraper” by Demi Lovato)
• “Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead-end street.” (“Red” by Taylor Swift)
• “And it seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind.” (“Candle in the Wind” by Elton John)
• “Like a rock, I was strong as I could be.” (“Like a Rock” by Bob Seeger)
• “I’m like a bird, I only fly away.” (“I’m Like a Bird” by Nelly Furtado)
• “Hit me like a ray of sun burning through my darkest night.” (“Halo” by Beyoncé)

How To Teach Similes

Looking for some creative ideas for teaching similes in the classroom? Try these clever activities.

Create a simile rainbow

Color similes are a terrific way to start learning this type of figurative speech. Even very young students can come up with color comparisons. Grab a free printable to use at the link, or simply color your own rainbow and add similes to each stripe.

Learn more: Simile Rainbow via The Classroom Creative

Write Hershey’s Kiss similes

Every kid loves learning with a sweet snack! After they use their five senses to describe the candy, students can write similes to bring the descriptions to life.

Learn more: Hershey’s Kiss Similes via Teacher by the Beach

Craft simile mobiles

Pick an item for the main part of the mobile, then write similes on the tags that hang from it. These would make great classroom decorations.

Learn more: Simile Mobiles via School Time Snippets

Visit Planet Simile

Use your imaginations to dream up what aliens from another planet would look like. Then, describe them using lots of creative similes.

Learn more: Planet Simile via Teaching Tales Along the Yellow Brick Road

Read a mentor text

Dive into pretty much any book, and you’ll find similes galore! Choose a text to share with your class, and have them jot down similes on sticky notes as they hear them. Add them all to an anchor chart you can refer to later on.

Learn more: Simile Mentor Text via Tara Teaches

What simile examples do you use to help drive the concept home? Come share your ideas and ask for advice in the We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

Plus, 75+ appealing alliteration examples (plus teaching ideas) ..

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Simile Definition

A simile is a figure of speech in which two essentially dissimilar objects or concepts are expressly compared with one another through the use of “like” or “as.” Simile is used as a literary device to assert similarity with the help of  like or  as,  which are language constructs that establish equivalency. A proper simile creates an explicit comparison between two things that are different enough from each other such that their comparability appears unlikely.

For example, the statement “this poem is like a punch in the gut” features a simile. The poem is being explicitly compared to a “punch in the gut” with the word “like.” This is an effective simile in that a poem is not at all similar to a punch in literal terms. However, figuratively, the simile’s comparison and association between these two things establishes that the impact of the poem on the speaker has the force of and feels similar to a punch in the gut.

Common Examples of Simile

There are many common examples of simile used in everyday conversation and writing. Here are some well-known phrases that utilize this figure of speech:

• Nutty as a fruitcake
• Slept like a log
• Sly as a fox
• Fits like a glove
• Cool as a cucumber
• Blind as a bat
• Light as a feather
• Like watching paint dry
• Works like a charm
• Old as the hills
• Pretty as a picture
• Hurts like the devil
• Strong as an ox
• Fight like cats and dogs
• Sparkle like diamonds
• Cheeks like roses
• Flat as a pancake
• Eyes like glass
• Sweet as sugar
• Dull as a doorknob
• Bright as the sun
• Tough as nails
• Smart as a whip
• Mad as a hatter
• Happy as a clam

Examples of Similes for Love

One of the most common concepts to feature simile as a literary device is love. Here are some memorable lines and quotes that showcase simile as an effective comparison for describing love:

• Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop. (H.L. Mencken)
• Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit. (Khalil Gibran)
• Love is like a friendship caught on fire. (Bruce Lee)
• Love is like a faucet; it turns off and on. (Billie Holiday)
• And she said losing love is like a window in your heart; everybody sees you’re blown apart; everybody sees the wind blow (Paul Simon)
• Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. ( Oscar Wilde )
• Love is like the wild rose-briar ( Emily Bronte )
• Falling out of love is like losing weight. It’s a lot easier putting it on than taking it off. (Aretha Franklin)
• Love is like a beautiful flower which I may not touch, but whose fragrance makes the garden a place of delight just the same. (Helen Keller)
• Love is like the measles. The older you get it, the worse the attack. (Rainer Maria Rilke)

Famous Examples of Simile

Simile is also found in many famous examples of poetry,  prose ,  drama , lyrics , and even clever quotations. Here are some famous examples of simile:

• Easy Like Sunday Morning (Lionel Richie)
• All those moments will be lost in time, like… tears in rain . (Blade Runner)
• Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving. (Albert Einstein)
• That’s always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people want to be around someone because they’re pretty. It’s like picking your breakfast cereal based on color instead of taste. ( John Green )
• Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die. (Anne Lamott)
• Writing a novel is like driving a car at night . You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. (E.L. Doctorow)
• Parents are like God because you wanna know they’re out there, and you want them to think well of you, but you really only call when you need something. (Chuck Palahniuk)
• Time was passing like a hand waving from a train I wanted to be on. (Jonathan Safran Foer)
• Being with her I feel a pain, like a frozen knife stuck in my chest. (Haruki Murakami)
• Her hair, like golden threads, play ’d with her breath. ( William Shakespeare )
• Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom. (Arthur Schopenhauer)
• You, just like heaven. (The Cure)
• Life is like writing with a pen. You can cross out your past but you can’t erase it. (E.B. White)
• The pain is like an axe that chops my heart. ( Yann Martel )
• We are like roses that have never bothered to bloom when we should have bloomed and it is as if the sun has become disgusted with waiting. (Charles Bukowski)

Difference Between Simile and Metaphor

Some may find it difficult to differentiate between simile  and metaphor as literary devices since both are figures of speech designed to create meaning through comparisons. Simile is actually a subset of metaphor and is distinguished by the presence of one of two words: “like” and “as.” Metaphors create direct comparisons without using either of these words, whereas similes feature either like  or  as  in making a comparison.

The following lyrics from a song featured in Walt Disney’s “Bambi” is an example that illustrates the difference between simile and metaphor:

Love is a song that never ends One simple theme repeating Like the voice of a heavenly choir Love’s sweet music flows on

The first two lines feature a metaphor. Love is directly compared to a “song that never ends.” Though love and a song are seemingly unlike entities, the metaphor connects them such that the comparison makes sense to the audience . By linking love to a song that never ends, the metaphor enhances the meaning and audience understanding of love as a concept.

The last two lines of these lyrics feature a simile. The way “love’s sweet music” flows is compared to the “voice of a heavenly choir.” The previous metaphor has established love as a song. Therefore, the simile advances this meaning by comparing love’s music to a choir voice. Rather than stating that love’s music is a choir voice and creating another metaphor, the simile indicates that love’s music is  like a choir voice. The simile enhances the imagery and audience understanding of love, established by the metaphor, with further use of figurative language .

Writing Simile

Overall, as a literary device, simile functions as a means of creating an equivalent comparison or establishing similarity between two seemingly different things. This is an effective figure of speech for readers in that simile can create an association between two dissimilar entities or ideas that illuminate each other and enhance the meaning of both. Simile is an essential literary device for writers of both poetry and prose .

It’s important that writers construct proper similes so that the comparative meaning is not lost for the reader. In fact, like metaphors, similes are dependent on the understandable combination of a principal term and a secondary term. The principal term conveys the literal entity to be described, and the secondary term is used figuratively to add meaning. For example, in the simile “the cat’s fur felt smooth as silk,” the principal term is “cat’s fur” and the secondary term is “silk.” By comparing the smooth feel of the cat’s fur to the feel of silk, the reader’s understanding of the texture of both things is enhanced through figurative language.

Here are some ways that writers benefit from incorporating simile into their work:

Create Imagery

Similes allow writers to create imagery for readers through figurative language that might otherwise be limited by just descriptive language. In other words, an effective simile eliminates the need for excessive explanation or description on the part of the writer. Instead, by creating similarity through comparing two different things, an image is created for the reader to allow for greater meaning and understanding. This imagery is a powerful result of using simile as a literary device.

Generate Thought and Emotion

When writers utilize simile as a literary device, it generates thought on the part of the reader regarding the “logic” or truth in such a comparison. These thoughts, in turn, can evoke emotion in the reader through the realization that the comparison is valid and reflects a level of truth they may not have understood before. Similes are especially effective in poetry as a means of portraying truths in a lyrical yet concise manner.

Examples of Simile in Literature

Simile is a very effective and widely used literary device. Here are some examples of simile and how it adds to the significance of literary works:

Example 1:  Horseradish (Lemony Snicket)

A library is like an island in the middle of a vast sea of ignorance, particularly if the library is very tall and the surrounding area has been flooded.

Lemony Snicket is well-known for his brilliant use of simile as a means of describing concepts, especially for children. In this line, he demonstrates not only the power of simile as a comparison between a library and an island with figurative language, but he also invokes a literal image of a library as an island. This reinforces the significance of a library as a refuge and protective haven against ignorance and other potentially destructive forces.

Example 2:  A Red, Red Rose (Robert Burns)

O my Luve’s like a red, red rose , That’s newly sprung in June; O my Luve’s like the melodie That’s sweetly play’d in tune.

In this stanza , the poet compares the person he loves both to a rose and melody. In poetry, the concept of love is often compared to a rose and/or a song. However, in this poem, Burns enhances those similes by comparing his “Luve,” an actual person rather than an abstract concept, to a rose and a song. This allows the reader to understand that the poet views the person he loves as a symbol of love itself.

Example 3:  Spring is like a perhaps hand (e.e. cummings)

Spring is like a perhaps hand (which comes carefully out of Nowhere)arranging a window,into which people look(while people stare arranging and changing placing carefully there a strange thing and a known thing here)and changing everything carefully Spring is like a perhaps Hand in a window (carefully to and fro moving New and Old things,while people stare carefully moving a perhaps fraction of flower here placing an inch of air there)and without breaking anything.

In this poem, Cummings creates an unusual simile in that the literary device compares dissimilar things in a tentative way. Most poets utilize simile as a means of asserting similarities through comparisons. However, by comparing Spring to a “perhaps” hand, the poet leaves a sense of the indefinite, and creates less of an absolute assertion of the association between Spring and a hand.

However, rather than being weak or ineffective, this “approximate” simile reinforces the meaning and imagery of the poem itself. The poem’s theme is that the changes brought about by Spring are so gentle and subtle that they are nearly unnoticeable as they are happening. Therefore, the comparison to a “perhaps” hand invokes the association between Spring and something that is all but unseen, and therefore elusive or ephemeral.

Related posts:

• 20 Best Simile Examples from Songs
• 15 Visionary Simile Examples in The Bible
• 15 Top Homeric Simile Examples
• 10 Imaginative Similes in 1984
• Romeo and Juliet Similes
• 10 Best Poems With Similes

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Similes Conceptualization in Education Synthesis Essay

“Similes” pre-teaching conceptualization will combine language and creativity; it will also focus on the definition and nature of similes together with their use as figures of speech for students in grade 6-7. The learning process will ensure the students gain a wide perspective of similes and their meanings together with their use in language. Students will also get to know the use of conjunctions “like” and “as” used in similes.

They will learn how to differentiate similes from other forms of figurative language such as metaphors. Learning similes can be difficult for a number of students but this can be simplified by use of activities that create fun and involve the whole class.

In order for learning to be considered meaningful, it should be active, constructive, intentional and metacognitive. The activities in this unit will not only fall under the above learning processes but also on different levels of Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy. Below are examples of the different levels together with their objectives.

Knowledge – students will be able to give examples of similes. They will also identify similes from the stories I read during class work. This will demonstrate their ability to understand the use of similes in texts. For example, he is as fast as a cheetah used in a story to emphasize the speed at which an activity was carried out.

Comprehension – students will be able to state what similes are. Here, they will be required to identify the underlying difference between similes and other figures of speech. For example, the major difference between a simile and other figures of speech is that as simile utilizes “like” and “as” in drawing comparisons.

Application – students will be able to display a probable use of similes in speech. This will involve dividing them into groups where they will engage in activities that will enable them identify similes used in poems and books. They will also write their own similes and further show the use of similes in poems. For example, a simile is used to enhance meaning of the text.

Analysis – students will be able to discuss how to use similes in stories and poems. For example, how a simile can be used to enhance the theme of a poem. They will also discuss what makes the simile suitable in bringing out meaning according to the context of the poem. For example he ran a fast as lighting emphasizes on speed thus this simile will be suitable in emphasizing the aspect of speed in the poem.

Synthesis – students will be able to form their own similes. In groups they will write down similes based on a list of words that I will provide. For example they will form similes from the words; hare, chameleon, cheetah. Then a simile with the word “cheetah” will read- At the sound of the gun shots John ran as fast as a cheetah.

Evaluation – students will portray what they have learnt in both oral and written forms independently. Each student will write a poem using similes. For example a student will compose a poem using a simile as the title of the poem.

I will have a book from which I will read a story that is “rich” in figurative language. Also, the students will be informed on what shall be learned for the next three weeks. They will also be divided into groups of 4-5 that will be used for different tasks in the course of the unit.

An introduction to unit: I will offer a definition of the word “simile” as a figure of speech used to compare two nouns by utilizing the words “like” or “as”. As outlined in the anticipatory set.

Identification of similes-They will be able to know similes that use “like” and give a few examples. For example, her face was like flames of fire when she got the bad news. The examples will be put into use during class activities at prior knowledge section.

Identification of similes-They will learn how to use “as” in similes and give a few examples. For example, Peter is as wise as a hare. The examples will be put into use during class activities at prior knowledge section.

Formulation of simile-Students will learn how to write similes without using “like” or “as” and how to differentiate these similes from metaphors. For example

He is livelier than the choir (Simile).

She is an elephant in matters of law (Metaphor).

These examples will be put to use in the creativity section.

Compose poem-Students will learn how to incorporate similes in writing poems and other types of literature. For example, I will give them a topic like “The last day in school” where I will direct them to use a number of similes in the poem. These examples will be put to use in the creativity section.

Prior Knowledge

Students in grade 6-7 have some knowledge on figures of speech. To evaluate how much they know about similes, numerous group activities will be done. The first activity will involve the whole class. During the activity, I will read a script containing smiles and the students will shout “yes” once they have heard a simile. The one who gets it right will receive a clap from the rest of the students.

This activity will be a test for the students’ knowledge of similes. I will also avail examples of figures of speech and ask the students to classify them in their respective groups. For example, as fast as a cheetah is a simile while he is a cheetah when he runs is a metaphor.

Developmental Level

According to Piaget’s levels of development, at this stage, children are under the concrete operational stage. During this stage, they can focus on matters happening in the external environment as well as analyze them logically. According to Piaget, teachers should incorporate learning activities that will enable the children learn by themselves through observation of concrete objects.

Since the development pace varies from child to child, I have outlaid varying kind of assignments that will suit his or her development. The children will compose assignments similar to the matters that often surround them. During this they will correlate their similes with what they have learnt.

The children will also compare the events that happen in the class environment to those of the external environment and indicate their satisfaction.

For example a student may identify a sport that is easy to him and then go ahead to compare it to the lesson activity that they find equally easy. For instance, a student who considers football an easy sport may formulate a simile that goes, “Learning similes is as easy as playing football’.

Anticipatory Set

This is a continuation of the knowledge acquired from the prior knowledge section. Initially, I will try to establish how much the students know about figures of speech basing on their classification at the prior knowledge section. In case their knowledge on the topic is not sufficient, we will carry out a review before introducing the new concept.

Students will be required to classify figures of speech in their categories and provide reasons for this classification. For example they should tell me she is a cheetah when she runs is a metaphor since it involves an indirect comparison of two nouns. Later, I will introduce them to another figure of speech: smiles.

I then tell them similes are figures of speech that draws comparison between two nouns by utilizing the conjunctions “as” or “like”. Students will be asked if they know more about similes and the answers will be recorded for comparison by the end of the unit.

I will ensure that each student understands the various categories of smiles and how the similes are applied in varying situations. I will also tell the class of the projects I have in mind like simile construction and composition of poems.

By the end of the sub-section, the children will be assigned to write down similes and identify a number of poems that utilize similes. They will be required to differentiate a simile from a metaphor. For example, I will ensure they clearly differentiate between metaphors and smiles.

This will be shown by clearly displayed examples such as “life is a journey”. Here, the children should be in a position to differentiate the use of the metaphor from the simile; “life is like a journey”.

There are a number of learning theories that endeavour to explain the reason as to why some things are learnt and not others. Motivation is thus directly linked to these theories. Learning theories define the most effective means through which learning materials can be delivered to learners. This involves combining a number of approaches as there is no single method that is sufficient to motivate students.

Motivation has a direct link and a great significance in enhancing learning. There are two forms of motivation: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. The former is a form of motivation that comes from within but the latter is a form of motivation that comes from without.

The cognitive theory integrates both form of motivation. It is assumed that we either take action as a result of intrinsic motivation or it is a function of both.

By giving examples of similes that relate to real life situations, the students can connect well with the topic at hand. For example a student can say life is as hard as granite. Another way that I will use to motivate students is by ensuring that the learning process is as participatory as possible.

Motivation also enhances confidence. The students can participate both in class and in group work because they know that even if they are wrong they will be corrected gently. I hold the view that the group exercise is a significant motivator to my students. I believe that rewarding best performing individuals or groups is a great motivator too, and I will also deliver punishment if need be since I do not tolerate improper behavior in class.

I also believe in giving feedback to my students in regard to their assignments, this way they can understand what is right and maintain it or what they did wrongly and correct it. I will reward the student who gives the largest number of similes by offering lunch on the last day of the unit.

The greatest motivation for this unit will be that the student who writes the best poem will present it to the whole school during the school’s annual general meeting.

These children will be working on activities that will enable them discover the figurative use of language. Through formulation of smiles, they will discover how language can be creatively used in communication It will be more interesting if the children can form smiles by themselves.

Discovery occurs in the process of development. To help the children discover their abilities, the children will be issued with various poetic books and aided to read and understand the smiles contained in the books. For example a student will identify how a simile has been used to enhance the meaning of a poem. Additionally, the students will participate in discussion sessions that will enhance the use of smiles.

During the sessions, the children will be asked to apply the learnt smiles in their conversations. Afterwards, the children will formulate smiles in their own words depending on the environments they are interacting with.

This will be essential in approving the discovery of the students. For example, a learner may compare the poetic material with other study materials. This may involve use of a smiles like; “I wish all the learning materials were as interesting as poetry books”.

I believe that students learn best when they enjoy what they are doing. Theoretical approaches tend to be monotonous and boring. In an effort to create an active learning environment, I have designed a number of activities that will make learning similes more interesting. By incorporating participatory learning, the students will feel they are a part of the lesson and thereby concentrate, enjoy the lesson and learn more.

I believe that it is the teacher’s responsibility to create interest in the students. I have included a fun activity where by the students will be provided with fruits and vegetables which they will use in the practice of writing similes. For example one student in a group will hold an orange then the rest will write a simile about an orange in his or her composition book which I will later mark and give a feedback.

For example a student will write the simile your face is as round as an orange. The learning activities that I have used in this unit make the learning experience more interactive and memorable.

Creativity in this concept is made better by allowing the students compose similes poems and participating in group work. They can then extend their studies to other forms of figurative language based on the knowledge they have received on similes.

Exceptionality

This occurs at two levels. In a class set up, there are students who have extremely high intellectual levels. Additionally, there are those who have very low intellectual levels. This requires the teacher to be sensitive enough to enhance sufficient development in both levels.

In an effort to ensure the lesson activities addresses the needs of all the students, I will adopt a number of modifications while at the same time organize additional activities for the slow learners and fast learners respectively. For the slow learners I will go an extra mile to provide the meaning of the vocabularies together with their attributes were necessary.

Providing these meanings will ensure that the students are able to easily figure out how the comparison between the two nouns used in the simile is arrived at. For example using a simile like he is as black as tar, I will define the key vocabularies which are black and tar. I will define black as a dark color and tar as a substance that is usually black in color which is obtained from organic material.

An understanding of the definition of black and tar together with its attribute will enable the student understand how the comparison between the two nouns was arrived at. That is, the two nouns share an attribute of darkness. This knowledge will be useful to them when it comes to simile construction.

I will also work with volunteers who will be required to summarize and reinforce the day’s lesson activities at the end of the lesson. The volunteers are mainly the fast learners who will help the slow learners remember what has been taught.

For instance, the volunteers will redefine similes, offer a few examples of similes and explain their use in literary compositions like poems. The volunteers aim is to help the slow learners understand the lesson all over again while at the same time reinforcing the main points.

I will also moderate the amount of work by giving them a task at a time. This way they will be able to work on their assignments without feeling pressurized.

For example, I will ask them to identify similes, after they have identified, I will ask them to explain meaning and so on. This way they will be able to exhaustively explore one area of study before moving to the next. This way, they will eventually understand the whole topic at their own pace.

The fast learners will be allowed to work ahead in the text book on the same topic of study provided it is at their own pace. For example they can look at other figures of speech like metaphors and establish how they differ from similes. For example they can establish that a metaphor does not use “like” or “as” in drawing comparison between two nouns.

They can also work on similes but at a greater depth for example they can identify longer and more complex similes and later share their findings with the rest of the class or in their groups. For example they can identify a simile like “Death has affected me many times; it was like the invisible salt in the waves”. They will then establish the indirect comparison of death to the invisible salt in the waves.

Measurement and Evaluation

Grading of this concept will be based on the group assignments that involved composition of poems and similes. The literary compositions will be graded basing on imaginative and creative use of language. I will expect the students to showcase a mastery of skills since throughout the unit; they have handled several tasks on the topic.

The test for the learners will be on the various aspects learnt throughout the course. An emphasis will be laid upon development at various stages of the course. For example, learners will be tested and graded according to their ability to complete simile sentences, retrieve smiles from poems, form smiles from metaphors and compose poems. Other parts will include figurative speeches and grammar use.

The group project of composing poems will be graded by the end of the unit. Students who perform well in their compositions by submitting poems that follow the rules of poetry composition will receive a higher credit. For example the students will be required to submit a poem in which a simile has been used.

There are those who will incorporate similes in their compositions while others will use similes as titles of their poems. The evaluation will be dependent on the fact that they adhered to instructions (showing the use of the simile in delivering the general message of the text).

Students will take one formal test at the end of the unit that will cover the definition and nature of similes, examples and their use in speech. For analysis, each student will write a descriptive essay on similes that will assess their mastery of this topic. Group work will also be considered in which each group will submit a written assignment on a composed poem.

I will check on creativity, spelling, grammar and the use of figurative language. Each student will be expected to provide a sentence for the poem and he or she must incorporate similes in his or her poem. For example one student can start with this line, – At the sound of the gun short John ran as fast as a cheetah. Then the rest add up to this to make a poem which addresses the thematic concern of speed.

They will then choose one of them who will present the findings to the whole class. Students will also receive marks for group work. The final grade will depend on the two assignments plus a final formal test. My satisfaction on their understanding will depend on whether a better part of the class can write their own similes and apply the same knowledge in writing poems appropriately.

Application and Transfer

Here the students will be required to integrate the concepts they have learnt with other fields. The learners will thus apply the knowledge acquired to other subjects.

This knowledge will be easily transferable to subjects such as music. They will be in position to write songs with figurative language as learned during the studies. For example, the written poems can be sung.

The unit can also be transferred to Art if the students are asked to draw or color objects that describe similes. For example a student can draw a rose flower, color it red, and write a simile. This will be read as follows “she wore a blouse that was as red as a rose flower.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, August 12). Similes Conceptualization in Education. https://ivypanda.com/essays/learning-similes/

"Similes Conceptualization in Education." IvyPanda , 12 Aug. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/learning-similes/.

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IvyPanda . 2019. "Similes Conceptualization in Education." August 12, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/learning-similes/.

1. IvyPanda . "Similes Conceptualization in Education." August 12, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/learning-similes/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Similes Conceptualization in Education." August 12, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/learning-similes/.

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Simile Examples for Kids

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Similes are a literary device that compares two similar things using like or the construction of as _____ as. It's often used in poetry; however, you can find similes in all kinds of writing. Inspire your kids' love of similes with great examples.

Easy Examples of Similes for Kids

The use of simile, for kids, is a bit abstract. However, elementary kids can understand similes if they use easy vocabulary and the connection and imagery are clear. If you teach your kids about simile by encouraging them to imagine how something is first and then have them think about what those things are like, they will be well on their way to understanding this fun literary device.

• The breeze was gentle like a butterfly.
• She danced lightly, like a fluttering butterfly.
• You are as pale as a white sheet.
• Your hands are as cold as the Arctic.
• His mind is like an encyclopedia.
• It was as light as a penny.
• He soared like an eagle.
• It was damp like dew in the morning.
• He was as lost as a sheep.
• She worked as hard as an ant gathering his harvest.
• She was as prickly as a cactus.
• The puppy wagged his tail like a toddler who just got a lollipop.
• The children were as happy as a hog with fresh mud.
• The burglar looked as sketchy as jelly with green fuzz on top.
• She moved as gracefully as a prima ballerina.
• They ran around, going this way and that, like leaves on a blustery day.
• Her teeth were as white as pearls.
• 16 Winter Poems for Kids to Cherish the Season

Intermediate Similes

If your kids have already had an introduction to similes and understand the basic concept, consider working with ideas that are a bit more abstract. Use similes that suggest emotions rather than tangible things, or vocabulary that is a bit of a stretch for your kids. These similes will have them thinking hard about their next writing project.

• His rage arose like a brush fire.
• She blushed red like a cardinal.
• He stood there as majestic as a grand mountain.
• Their love bloomed like a flower.
• He crept up behind her, like a spider.
• She was annoying him like a mosquito buzzing in your ear.
• The lighted candles were like a thousand fireflies, glowing in the dark.
• Her eyes full of unshed tears as glassy as a still lake.
• The comment stung like a searing brand.
• The temple was magnificent and grand, like a giant mountain rising above the clouds.
• Her laughter was like church handbells, soft and tinkling.
• She was as fierce as a wasp from a disturbed nest.
• His handshake was like holding a cold and wet fish.
• The prison uniform was a dull gray, like a cloudy day.
• Together, they were as strong as an old redwood.
• His head had many scars, like a used ice rink.

Advanced Similes

By now your kids understand similes so well, they're able to use them in their writing. Start their creative juices flowing by offering some suggestions on how to work in a simile. Then, give an assignment that requires the use of three similes. Use these examples as inspiration.

• The library was eerie and silent, like a catacomb.
• The sun came out after the storm, like a welcome friend.
• She flitted around the playground happily like a babbling brook.
• The boat was tossed on the stormy sea like a ball on a playground.
• The air was tense like a drawn bow.
• He spotted her like a barn owl spots mice.
• She was waiting and pounced like a cat on the prowl.
• Adversity was like a noose around his neck.
• Her anger was like a mid-summer thunderstorm: sudden and fierce, but over quickly.
• The sentencing from the judge was as final as a nailed coffin.
• The guard stood stoic, watching the entrance like a sphinx watches a pyramid.
• Her eyes were as familiar as a warm blanket.
• Her mood was dark like a moonless night.
• The storm clouds came across the prairie like a thick blanket, covering everything.
• The room fell eerily silent and still, like the eye of a storm.
• Her voice was steady, strong and consistent, like the sound of waves crashing the beach.
• He was steadfast and dependable, like the tick-tock on an old clock.

Animal Similes Kids Love

Animals are a great way to add similes to writing. That is because animals have so many great traits that you can add. Check out these animal similes to add to your kid's writing.

• Kat was sly like a fox.
• Mary was brave as a lion.
• He waddled like a duck.
• Chase was fast like a cheetah.
• She watched us like a lion stalking her prey.
• She yowled like a wolf in the night.
• Molly grazed at the buffet like a cow in a pasture.
• Tim charged Ken like a ram.
• He was stubborn as a mule.
• Tito charged with the intensity of a bull.
• Lily was as quiet as a mouse.
• His jacket was bright like a Toucan's beak.
• The dog growled like a bear.
• Sammy danced as gracefully as a gazelle.
• Gavin laughed like a hyena.
• She was slower than a snail.

Simile Definition for Kids

A simile is a comparison of one thing to another. An easy way to remember this is you are stating how they are similar with the use of like or as. Many call it a literary device which is a fancy way of saying that it is a tool used by writers to make their story more descriptive. It can also be called figurative language . For example, saying, "Mary was funny" is boring compared to "Mary was funny like a professional comedian." This lets the audience know that Mary is really funny.

Have Fun With Similes

Whether you use them in poems , incorporate them in short stories, or even include one in a college essay, similes are a great way to spice up your writing. Encourage kids to use them in their writing pieces by awarding bonus points for each simile used, or have a 'funniest simile contest.'

Simile Examples for Kids

The use of figurative language us to convey the power of language.

Similes, even if it is one of the most basic figures of speech, is used in our speeches and even in our daily conversations in order to make explanations more understandable and words more vivid and powerful.

The use of simile can be quite tricky for kids. Help them understand and learn more about similes through these examples.

Defining Simile

A simile is a figurative device that gives you the ability to compare the similarities of two different things.

In using this figurative device, you have to use the words like and as.

Simile vs. Metaphor

The figures of speech simile and metaphor can be tricky for kids to differentiate.

In order for them to easily identify the difference, make sure that they know that a statement uses simile if it uses the words like and as  in associating two different things. On the other hand, metaphors would be associating the common ground of two different things straight up and it does not deliberately state comparisons between two things.

Refer to this example:

• Simile: Life is like a dream.
• Metaphor: Life is but a dream.

Where to Find Similes?

Similes are found in poetry and children’s books. It is also used in nursery rhymes like “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. It is also used in advertising because it is helpful in making products and services sell. Song lyrics are also abundant of similes. It helps songs sound catchy.

How Can We Use Similes?

Similes can be used by children when they are to write poems or short stories. They can also use it even in their everyday conversation with the people around them. Using similes can help kids in making their written compositions engaging. It will also make their conversations fun.

Examples of Simile

Here are examples of simile that are used in a sentence that can be understood well by kids:

Examples of Similes Using ‘ As ’

These simile examples follow the ‘as __ as’ format:

• The clouds were as big as an elephant.
• Anna is as sly as a fox.
• Brian’s face was as clear as day.
• Carson’s hair is as dark as the night.
• Her skin is as dry as a bone.
• Her attitude towards him is as cold as ice.
• Maria’s schedule makes her as busy as a bee.
• Martin’s wit is as sharp as a needle.
• Jerry’s grandfather is as tough as an old boot.
• The test questions were as easy as a pie.
• My father’s love for my mother is as deep as the ocean.
• The office is as clean as a whistle.
• She is as strong as an ox
• They were as different as salt and pepper but they are still together.
• The troops sent to the war were as brave as lions.

Examples of Similes Using ‘ Like ’

These simile examples follow the ‘__ like __ ’ format:

• She came into the room looking like a fish out of the water.
• When I gave her the present, her eyes twinkled like the stars.
• Maria was so exhausted from work that she slept like a log.
• The pilot maneuvered the plane like an eagle.
• Perry was famished that he ate like a pig.
• My parents are sweet like sugar.
• Life is full of surprises it’s like a box of assorted chocolates.
• The first placer ran like lightning during the race.
• Her skin is soft like velvet
• My sister and I are like two peas in a pod.
• Her cheeks are red like roses.
• Chris’ voice is so clear it sounds like a bell.
• My life is like an open book.
• I feel like a couch potato today.
• That house is built like a rock.

Examples of Similes in Literature

Literature has made use of simile in order to deliver effective comparisons. Here are some examples of similes used in literature. Take note of the words in bold:

1. “ Her romantic mind was like the tiny boxes , one within the other, that come from the puzzling East . . . ” — Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie.

2 . “. . . when I laid down the paper, I was aware of a flash — rush — flow — I do not know what to call it — no word I can find is satisfactorily descriptive — in which I seemed to see that bedroom passing through my room, like a picture impossibly painted on a running river. — To Be Taken with a Grain of Salt, by Charles Dickens

3. “. . . utterly absorbed by the curious experience that still clung to him like a garment.” — Magnificent Obsession, by Lloyd C. Douglas

4. “ She entered with an ungainly struggle like some huge awkward chicken , torn, squawking, out of its coop. ” — The Adventure of the Three Gables, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

5. “ He looks like right after the maul hits the steer and it no longer alive and don’t yet know that it is dead.” — As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner

6. “Her father had inherited that temper; and at times, like antelope fleeing before the fire on the slope, his people fled from his red rages. ” — Riders of the Purple Sage, by Zane Grey

7. “The very mystery of him excited her curiosity like a door that had neither lock nor key. ” — Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell

8. “ Elderly American ladies leaning on their canes listed toward me like towers of Pisa.” — Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov

9. “The water made a sound like kittens lapping .” — The Yearling, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

10.   “Kate inched over her own thoughts like a measuring worm . ” — East of Eden, by John Steinbeck

11. “. . . impressions poured in upon her of those two men, and to follow her thought was like following a voice which speaks too quickly to be taken down by one’s pencil . . .” — To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf

12. “Your teeth are like stars; They come out at night. They come back at dawn When they’re ready to bite. ” – Denise Rodgers

13. “Your feet smell so bad Just like Limburger cheese That I’m holding my nose tight Between my two knees.”- Denise Rodgers

14. “ Friends are like chocolate cake You can never have too many. Chocolate cake is like heaven – Always amazing you with each taste or feeling. Chocolate cake is like life with so many different pieces. Chocolate cake is like happiness, you can never get enough of it.” – Author Unknown

15. “Twinkle, twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky. ”

16. “Death lies on her like an untimely frost .” – Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

17. “O my Luve’s like a red, red rose That’s newly sprung in June; O my Luve’s like the melodie That’s sweetly played in tune.” – Robert Burns

18.  “Peering through the drape Of my synthetic cell, How I long to escape This manufactured hell. Like a bruised, little bird Too confused to fly, I’m trapped, in a word, So confined am I. A captive, collared lion Alone in its pen, I’m pacin’ and dyin’ In a man-made den. For an eagle was not meant To be locked in a cage, Its life to be spent Like a picture on a page. And when a mighty lion, In truth, is but a cat, It will spend its time tryin’ To be greater than that.” –  Greater Than That

The use of simile is a great first step for kids to be able to write with more variety. Simile is like a freshly squeezed orange juice — it’s refreshing and healthy for you so use this figurative language more!

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