analogy
noun /əˈnælədʒi/
/əˈnælədʒi/
(plural analogies)
- [countable] a comparison of one thing with another thing that has similar features; a feature that is similar
- analogy (between A and B) The teacher drew an analogy between the human heart and a pump.
- analogy (with something) There are no analogies with any previous legal cases.
Extra ExamplesTopics Languagec1- She suggested an analogy between the human heart and a pump.
- The Wild West analogy does not fit here.
- There is an analogy here with the way an engine works.
- The computer is a useful analogy for the brain.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- appropriate
- apt
- good
- …
- draw
- make
- suggest
- …
- fit
- hold
- by analogy
- by analogy to
- by analogy with
- …
- argument by analogy
- argument from analogy
- [uncountable] the process of comparing one thing with another thing that has similar features in order to explain it
- learning by analogy
- We can understand this theory by analogy with human beings.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- appropriate
- apt
- good
- …
- draw
- make
- suggest
- …
- fit
- hold
- by analogy
- by analogy to
- by analogy with
- …
- argument by analogy
- argument from analogy
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘appropriateness, correspondence’): from French analogie, Latin analogia ‘proportion’, from Greek, from analogos ‘proportionate’.