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Jun 21, 2022 · Mixed Metaphors Explained: 8 Examples of Mixed Metaphors. A well-crafted metaphor uses consistent imagery ("hitting the nail on the head”); when you start mixing imagery ("hitting the nail on the nose"), you can create a type of malapropism known as a mixed metaphor.
Jun 6, 2019 · A mixed metaphor is a succession of incongruous or ludicrous comparisons. Also known—playfully—as a mixaphor. Although many style guides condemn the use of mixed metaphors, in practice most of the objectionable combinations (as in the examples below) are actually clichés or dead metaphors.
- Richard Nordquist
metaphor / simile. Both make comparisons, but a metaphor compares one thing to another straight up, while a simile uses "like" or "as." The word metaphor comes from the Greek metaphora "to transfer." With a metaphor, an idea is transferred from one word to another. It's implicit, like in this metaphor from Flannery O'Connor, "He had measured ...
Mixed metaphors occur when two different metaphors lose their combined connotation and instead produce an unclear or ridiculous context. People get crossed up with such by not having a proper knowledge which result on to less communication.
May 20, 2022 · Nope, it’s definitely not the right way to say it. You’ve mixed up “let sleeping dogs lie” and “beating a dead horse,” and now your perfect comeback is a messy malaphor — also known as a mixed metaphor or proverb. Oops.
- admin@yourdictionary.com
- Senior Writer
A mixed metaphor is a figure of speech wherein you combine two or more metaphors into one. And yes, it is as ludicrous as it sounds. Let’s look at an example: “It’s not rocket surgery.”
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A mixed metaphor is a literary device that occurs when two or more dissimilar metaphors are fused to forge a comparison, typically creating a ludicrous effect. A mixed metaphor is not a common literary device that we often find in poetry or literature.
