Simile

A simile compares two unlike things using 'like' or 'as', so the comparison is offered openly and the reader holds both images at once.

The paper was as thin as a moth wing. Two things stay two things, joined by as, and the reader keeps both in view. That is the difference from a metaphor, which would simply declare the paper a moth wing.

Simile definition, in plain terms

A simile is a comparison between two unlike things, made openly with a linking word. It has three parts:

1. The thing described. The paper.
2. The linking word. Usually like or as. As if, as though and the way do the same job.
3. The thing it is compared to. A moth wing.

Critics sometimes call the first part the tenor and the third the vehicle. You do not need the terms, but you will meet them.

The things must be unlike. She looks like her mother is a literal comparison, not a simile. She looks like a question nobody wants to answer is a simile, because a person and a question share almost nothing, and the one thing they do share is the point.

Simile examples

From poetry

• I wandered lonely as a cloud. Wordsworth. Why it works: the speaker is not just alone; he is drifting and high up, and the cloud gives him both.
• O my Luve's like a red, red rose, / That's newly sprung in June. Robert Burns. Why it works: the second line does the real work. Not any rose: a new one, in June.

In fiction

• Her hands were shaking like leaves. Why it fails: the comparison is second-hand, and the reader learns nothing new.
• Her hands were shaking like someone still holding a phone that had already gone dead. Why it works: the comparison carries information the sentence did not otherwise have. We now know what just happened to her.
• He ate like someone who had been told the food would be taken away. Why it works: a whole childhood in one comparison, without a flashback.
• The office went quiet the way a classroom goes quiet when the head walks in. Why it works: it borrows a feeling every reader has had, guilt included.

Simile vs metaphor

Both compare. The difference is whether the comparison admits it.

• Simile: Her voice was like gravel.
• Metaphor: Her voice was gravel.

A metaphor is faster and hits harder, because it collapses the two things into one. A simile is more careful, and it can be more precise, because the linking word leaves room to qualify: like a dog that has been kicked once and remembers it would be clumsy as a metaphor. A good rule: if the comparison needs a condition or a detail attached, use a simile. If it can stand as a flat claim, try the metaphor.

What makes a simile work

The simile is the safer of the two figures, and also the easier one to waste. The waste always happens in the second half. A simile earns its place when the thing it compares to adds a fact, a feeling or a piece of characterisation. When it only restates the first half more decoratively, it is purple prose with a like in it.

Three tests:

• Does the comparison point at something the reader could not already see?
• Is it drawn from a world this narrator actually knows? A farmer and a pilot do not reach for the same comparisons.
• Is it the only simile in the paragraph?

Common mistakes

• Clichés. Busy as a bee, cold as ice, white as a sheet. The reader skims straight past them. Replace with something only this story could say, or cut to the plain word.
• Stacked similes. Two competing comparisons in three sentences cancel each other out, and the reader remembers neither. Keep the stronger one.
• The wrong narrator. A ten-year-old comparing the sky to a bruise on a boxer's jaw sounds like the author. Draw comparisons from the character's own life.
• Similes in the fast parts. Every simile is a pause. In a fight or a chase, cut them and let the verbs carry it.
• Comparing like with like. The lake looked like a big pond is not an image. Reach further.

Frequently asked questions

What is the definition of a simile?

A simile is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things using a linking word, usually 'like' or 'as', such as 'the paper was as thin as a moth wing'. The comparison is stated openly, so both things stay separate in the reader's mind.

What is the difference between a simile and a metaphor?

A simile says one thing is like another: 'her voice was like gravel'. A metaphor says one thing is another: 'her voice was gravel'. Both compare; the simile admits it is comparing, and the metaphor does not.

Is every sentence with 'like' or 'as' a simile?

No. 'She looks like her mother' compares two similar things literally, so it is not a simile. A simile compares things that are basically unlike, to bring out one quality they share.

What are some examples of similes?

Everyday ones include 'as brave as a lion', 'sleeping like a baby' and 'as light as a feather'. In poetry, Wordsworth's 'I wandered lonely as a cloud' and Burns's 'O my Luve's like a red, red rose' are among the best known.

Can a simile be too long?

Length is fine if every part tells the reader something. A long simile that keeps adding detail can work well; one that keeps adding decoration stalls the sentence.