What is a Simile? Definition & Examples

Common similes

Similes in everyday life

Whether you realize it or not, you probably hear similes every day. They’re an efficient way for someone to make a point, and add color to your speech. Here are some common simile examples:

• Busy as a bee
• Run like the wind
• Cool as a cucumber
• Fresh as a daisy
• Light as a feather
• Tough as nails
• Sings like an angel
• As good as gold
• Slept like a log

You’ve heard a lot of these, right? We could go on and on, but this is just a small portion of the similes you’ll come across in your day to day. 

But of course, similes aren’t relegated to clichés. In fact, most writers will want to avoid the tired similes like the ones we’ve listed.

Similes in Action

Simile examples in literature

In literature, the writer has only words to conjure a picture in their readers mind. Here are some simile examples that accomplish that excellently.

• "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
  
  
• "O my Luve is like a red, red rose
  That's newly sprung in June;
  O my Luve is like the melody
  That's sweetly played in tune."
  — A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns
  
  
• "The cafe was like a battleship stripped for action."
  — The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Simile Examples in Film

Simile vs metaphor

Literary devices can often be very similar, yet differ in one specific and important way. One common question when it comes to this literary device is “What’s the difference between simile and metaphor?” Here’s your answer:

• A simile uses the words “like” or “as” to explicitly compare two things. 
• A metaphor implicitly states the comparison by stating the way something simply "is."
  
  

Let’s look at a couple examples:

• Simile — Love is like a battlefield.
• Metaphor — Love is a battlefield.
• Simile — The sun was like a spotlight.
• Metaphor — The sun was a spotlight.
• Simile — She ran as though she was a cheetah.
• Metaphor — She was a cheetah when she ran.
  
  

Both approaches can have the same meaning, it’s just that the simile is more obviously a comparison.

What’s a simile

Analogy vs simile

In a way, analogies and similes are even more tricky to differentiate than similes and metaphors.

There are two types of analogies:

• Shared abstraction: These are analogies that compare two unlike things to make a point.
• Identical relationship: These are analogies that create a logical formula to explain a relationship (“A teacher is to education as a trunk is to a tree.”).
  
  

Shared abstraction analogies are the ones which can most often be confused with similes.

Take this sentence: “Our manager approached his work like a mule.” This is a simile, comparing the manager to a mule. 

Now let’s add to the statement: “Our manager approached his work like a mule; he never tired and never responded well to feedback.” This is an analogy, since the comparison is explaining the manager’s work ethic– he’s stubborn and ceaseless.

A few more shared abstraction analogies:

• Making a smart investment is like planting a seed– eventually, it will bear fruit.
• “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances.”
• Time is like a runaway train; it stops for no one.

Cinematic similes

Similes in movies

We see similes in literature and everyday speech, so it should come as no surprise that similes are all over movies as well. Filmmakers will use the figurative technique in dialogue as well as in the action of their script.

Like in any other medium, similes can have a myriad of functions in film. Similes can be used to hyperbolize or exaggerate a point a character wants to make. This is often used in comedy to both emphasize a point and make a joke. Consider this moment from Step Brothers.

Here, Brennan is singing for the first time in front of Dale. After singing, Brennan is insecure and does not know if Dale genuinely liked his singing or not. Dale continues to reassure him that his singing is amazing. 

Now, let’s take a look at the screenplay, which did not utilize this comparison. John C. Reilly improvised the line “Your voice is like a combination of Fergie and Jesus.”