Metaphor examples

A metaphor describes one thing through another. The image helps you feel or understand the point, rather than simply naming it.

About Metaphor Start lesson Compare simile examples

Featured example

One awkward joke punctured the excitement in the room.

Borrowed image: a puncture

A narrator describing a celebration that became less lively after a poorly judged joke.

Look inside the comparison

What we are talking about: the excitement in the room
The image: a balloon being punctured
The connection: a sudden loss of air and energy

In plain words: The joke suddenly made everyone less excited.

When it is not a metaphor

“She used an empty jar as a pencil holder.”
Someone describing the practical reuse of a real container.
What to notice
“As” names the jar’s actual function. It is being used to hold pencils, not figuratively compared with an unrelated image.
“The envelope on the table was empty.”
Someone checking whether a letter is inside a real envelope.
What to notice
The sentence describes a physical envelope. Unlike an empty-promise metaphor, the envelope is a real object rather than an image for another thing.
“The old church hall is a cinema on Friday nights.”
Someone describing how a community building is used.
What to notice
The hall really does work as a cinema on Fridays. An “is a” sentence can be plain fact, so nothing is pictured as something else.

More metaphor examples

11 more original lines

My inbox is a traffic jam of unanswered messages.
- Borrowed image: a traffic jam
Someone describing a backlog of work messages.
What it means
There are many unanswered messages, and it is difficult to deal with them.
Image: a traffic jam
The kitchen table is mission control for our family.
- Borrowed image: mission control
A parent describing where the family plans meals, school activities, and transport.
What it means
The family coordinates its everyday plans at the kitchen table.
Image: mission control
That unexpected fee took a bite out of our holiday budget.
- Borrowed image: a bite
Someone discussing how an extra booking fee reduced the money available for a trip.
What it means
The unexpected fee used up some of the money saved for the holiday.
Image: a bite removing part of something
Every Saturday, the café fills with the music of a dozen conversations.
- Borrowed image: music
Someone describing a busy local café at the weekend.
What it means
The café is full of the pleasant, overlapping sound of people talking.
Image: music
His promise was an empty envelope.
- Borrowed image: an empty envelope
A narrator describing an offer of help that led to no action.
What it means
The promise appeared to offer something, but no help followed.
Image: an empty envelope
By Sunday, the unanswered messages had snowballed into a bigger problem.
- Borrowed image: a snowball
Someone explaining how postponing several replies led to more questions and misunderstandings.
What it means
Leaving the messages unanswered caused the problem to grow.
Image: a snowball accumulating snow
After a bruising week of planning meetings, the committee finally agreed the timetable.
- Borrowed image: bruises
A club secretary describing a difficult week of negotiations.
What it means
The meetings were tense and tiring, and people ended the week exhausted.
Image: bruises from a knock or a fight
The first week of that evening course was a sprint. By Friday, we were all gasping for the finish line.
- Borrowed image: a sprint, kept going
A learner describing a first week packed with assignments on an evening accounting course.
What it means
The first week involved a lot of concentrated work in a short time, and by Friday everyone was exhausted.
Image: a sprint
My savings are a cushion for months when work is quiet.
- Borrowed image: a cushion
A freelancer describing why they keep some money aside.
What it means
The savings help cover expenses during months with less work.
Image: a cushion
The cancellation knocked a hole in our weekend plans.
- Borrowed image: a hole
Someone describing what happened when a planned family visit was canceled.
What it means
An important part of the weekend plans was unexpectedly lost.
Image: a hole knocked in a solid object
The extra paperwork swallowed the afternoon I’d set aside for reading.
- Borrowed image: swallowing
Someone describing why they never got to their planned reading.
What it means
Completing the paperwork used all the time that had been reserved for reading.
Image: something swallowing its food