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I've gotten very alert not just to mixed metaphor but to any writing mistake.
Lydia Davis

Meaning of "mixed metaphor" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

PRONUNCIATION OF MIXED METAPHOR

mixed metaphor play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF MIXED METAPHOR

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Mixed metaphor is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES MIXED METAPHOR MEAN IN ENGLISH?

mixed metaphor

Metaphor

A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes a subject by asserting that it is, on some point of comparison, the same as another otherwise unrelated object. It is, put simply a figure of speech that compares two unlike things without using like or as. It is not to be mistaken with a simile which does use like or as in comparisons. Metaphor is a type of analogy and is closely related to other rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance including allegory, hyperbole, and simile. One of the most prominent examples of a metaphor in English literature is the All the world's a stage monologue from As You Like It: All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; —William Shakespeare, As You Like It, 2/7 This quotation contains a metaphor because the world is not literally a stage. By figuratively asserting that the world is a stage, Shakespeare uses the points of comparison between the world and a stage to convey an understanding about the mechanics of the world and the lives of the people within it. The Philosophy of Rhetoric by I. A.

Definition of mixed metaphor in the English dictionary

The definition of mixed metaphor in the dictionary is a combination of incongruous metaphors, as when the Nazi jackboots sing their swan song.

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE MIXED METAPHOR

mixed bag
mixed blessing
mixed bud
mixed bunch
mixed crystal
mixed doubles
mixed economy
mixed farm
mixed farming
mixed forest
mixed grill
mixed language
mixed marriage
mixed martial arts
mixed media
mixed race
mixed salad
mixed spice
mixed up
mixed-ability

WORDS THAT END LIKE MIXED METAPHOR

abhor
anaphor
anchor
at anchor
author
biophor
camphor
canephor
cast anchor
coauthor
ephor
ichor
iodophor
khor
metaphor
petrichor
phosphor
Senghor
senhor
Thor

Synonyms and antonyms of mixed metaphor in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «mixed metaphor» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF MIXED METAPHOR

Find out the translation of mixed metaphor to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of mixed metaphor from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «mixed metaphor» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

混合隐喻
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

metáfora mixta
570 millions of speakers

English

mixed metaphor
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

मिश्रित रूपक
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

استعارة مختلطة
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

смешанная метафора
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

metáfora misturada
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

মিশ্র রূপক
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

métaphore mixte
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Metafora campuran
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

gemischte Metapher
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

混合メタファー
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

혼합 유
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Campuran kiasan
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

ẩn dụ hỗn hợp
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

கலப்பு உருவகம்
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

मिश्रित रूपका
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

Karışık metafor
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

metafora mista
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

metafora mieszany
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

змішана метафора
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

metaforă mixt
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

μικτή μεταφορά
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

gemengde metafoor
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

blandad metafor
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

blandet metafor
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of mixed metaphor

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «MIXED METAPHOR»

The term «mixed metaphor» is normally little used and occupies the 131.945 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Little used
38
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «mixed metaphor» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of mixed metaphor
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «mixed metaphor».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «MIXED METAPHOR» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «mixed metaphor» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «mixed metaphor» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about mixed metaphor

EXAMPLES

QUOTES WITH «MIXED METAPHOR»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word mixed metaphor.
1
Lydia Davis
I've gotten very alert not just to mixed metaphor but to any writing mistake.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «MIXED METAPHOR»

Discover the use of mixed metaphor in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to mixed metaphor and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Poetry
A mixed metaphor exists when one or more of the elements of a metaphor don't belong together. Writing a mixed metaphor is like hitting the wrong note in a symphony, and is as obvious to a keen reader of a poem as the wrong note is to the ...
Nikki Moustaki, 2001
2
Metaphors Dead and Alive, Sleeping and Waking: A Dynamic View
Let us now turn to a more systematic analysis of the semantic structure of three cases of mixed metaphor and see if we can arrive at a more precise account of why mixed metaphors do not make sense. The examples to be considered are ...
Cornelia Müller, 2009
3
Metaphor in Context
This information, communicated precisely by the mixed metaphor — we might say: category mistake — lends (13) much of its power as a metaphor. In (12), on the other hand, there is no comparable redeeming information conveyed by the ...
Stern
4
Motives for Metaphor: Literacy, Curriculum Reform, and the ...
mixed metaphor offered by the Holt (“Management extended an olive branch in an attempt to break some of the ice between the company and the striking workers”) does not necessarily, as this handbook suggests, “leave readers wondering ...
James E. Seitz, 1999
5
Beyond Metaphor: The Theory of Tropes in Anthropology
A typical example of the prohibition of mixed metaphor is that of Thomas Gibbons , in his 1767 treatise on rhetorical tropes. Gibbons calls mixed metaphors disgustful, spoiled, repugnant, absurd, and miserable incongruities, and writes that ...
James W. Fernandez, 1991
6
Aesthetics, Problems in the Philosophy of Criticism
14-D MIXED METAPHOR. Some special problems of style are presented by the so-called "mixed metaphor." The first question concerns the distinction between metaphors that are mixed and those that are not. Very often, "mixed" is defined ...
Monroe C. Beardsley, 1981
7
How Fiction Works
MIXED METAPHOR (205) brow by distress. Readers and theatergoers storm upon these meanings in a flash, without having to unpack them in the laborious way I have just done. Actually, there is a way in which mixed metaphor is perfectly ...
James Wood, 2008
8
Manuscript Makeover: Revision Techniques No Fiction Writer ...
For example, a simple mixed metaphor: “At last the sun set on this chapter of his life.” Where the simple metaphor leaves off and the extended metaphor begins is one of those gray areas of terminology. The next example begins as an ...
Elizabeth Lyon, 2008
9
Philosophical Perspectives on Metaphor
Consider again our example 4: In uttering, "Sally is a block of ice", we referred to Sally using her proper name literally, but we need not have. Suppose, to use a mixed metaphor, we refer to Sally as "the bad news". We could then say, using a  ...
Mark Johnson, 1981
10
Metaphor
If the vehicle speaks of more than one thing at a time, we have a mixed metaphor, unless the two or more things are close kin. The five metaphors from Antony and Cleopatra are not mixed, they are serial, one then another then another to a ...
Denis Donoghue, 2014

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «MIXED METAPHOR»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term mixed metaphor is used in the context of the following news items.
1
The Dry Powder Inventory Post
... to decide if they want to shit, get off the pot, dance, hold up the wall, or any other variety of mixed metaphor you'd like to throw at the situation. «Viva El Birdos, Jul 15»
2
THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE: All the gold in California?
You should pardon the mixed metaphor, but a truly great wine must ... You should pardon the mixed metaphor, but a truly great wine must ... «Bucks Local News, Jul 15»
3
Review: Egypt's Boy King Mans Up for a Spike Mini-Series
... this wonderfully mixed metaphor, in reference to an epidemic: “This sickness grows like a dam within those walls. Soon it will burst forth like a ... «New York Times, Jul 15»
4
A 'Trainwreck' You Can Laugh At
Pardon the mixed metaphor, but the lioness that is her girls-just-wanna-have-fun setup and the sheep that is his oh-grow-up denouement is like ... «Truthdig, Jul 15»
5
Exposé: Settlements Frozen as Netanyahu Strikes Secret Deals with …
But that concession was just the tip of the iceberg in thawing Israeli-Palestinian relations (mixed metaphor in the original Walla story). This new ... «The Jewish Press, Jul 15»
6
Star Wars: Dark Disciple Review
One mixed metaphor about onion-shaped buildings is particularly contradictory. The novel clearly spells out that Ventress uses her flirtation as ... «Den of Geek!, Jul 15»
7
DELHI deserves a REFERENDUM
... everybody has his or her nose in the feeding trough (the mixed metaphor may be excused in the interest of conveying the precise meaning!). «Hill Post, Jul 15»
8
Learning the Ropes
“Baa baaa baaa,” bleats CNN's Mark Mooney mockingly in another tweet (you'll pardon the mixed metaphor). “Can't believe the press ... «Wall Street Journal, Jul 15»
9
Peas in your guacamole? The long, strange recipe trip
He dubbed the dish a “culinary mixed metaphor” and, more importantly, found it “tasteless.” Best of all, he used the unsuccessful dish as a ... «San Francisco Chronicle, Jul 15»
10
Montclair Times Cannon Fodder: English, the next dead language?
And if you noticed the mixed metaphor in that last sentence, congratulations - you can stop reading here. But for the rest of you, listen up, there ... «NorthJersey.com, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Mixed metaphor [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/mixed-metaphor>. Apr 2024 ».
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