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Webster 1913 Edition


Analogy

A-nal′o-gy

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Analogies
.
[L.
analogia
, Gr. [GREEK], fr. [GREEK]: cf. F.
analogie
. See
Analogous
.]
1.
A resemblance of relations; an agreement or likeness between things in some circumstances or effects, when the things are otherwise entirely different. Thus, learning enlightens the mind, because it is to the mind what light is to the eye, enabling it to discover things before hidden.
Followed by between, to, or with; as, there is an analogy between these objects, or one thing has an analogy to or with another.
Analogy is very commonly used to denote similarity or essential resemblance; but its specific meaning is a similarity of relations, and in this consists the difference between the argument from example and that from analogy. In the former, we argue from the mere similarity of two things; in the latter, from the similarity of their relations.
Karslake.
2.
(Biol.)
A relation or correspondence in function, between organs or parts which are decidedly different.
3.
(Geom.)
Proportion; equality of ratios.
4.
(Gram.)
Conformity of words to the genius, structure, or general rules of a language; similarity of origin, inflection, or principle of pronunciation, and the like, as opposed to
anomaly
.
Johnson.

Webster 1828 Edition


Analogy

ANAL'OGY

,
Noun.
[Gr. ratio, proportion.]
1.
an agreement or likeness between things in some circumstances or effects, when the things are otherwise entirely different. Thus a plant is said to have life, because its growth resembles in some degree, that of an animal. In life and growth, then, there is an analogy between a plant and an animal. Learning enlightens the mind, because it is to the mind, what light is to the eye, enabling it to discover things before hidden. When the things which have an analogy follow a preposition, that preposition must be between or betwixt; as there is an analogy between plants and animals, or between customs. When one of the things precedes a verb, and the other follows, the preposition used must be to or with; as, a plant has some analogy to or with an animal.
2.
With grammarians, analogy is a conformity of words to the genius, structure or general rules of a language. Thus the general rule in English is that the plural of a noun ends in es; therefore all nouns which have that plural termination have an analogy, or are formed in analogy with other words of a like kind.

Definition 2024


analogy

analogy

English

Noun

analogy (countable and uncountable, plural analogies)

  1. A relationship of resemblance or equivalence between two situations, people, or objects, especially when used as a basis for explanation or extrapolation.
    • 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series, ch. 6:
      Yet the systole and diastole of the heart are not without their analogy in the ebb and flow of love.
    • 1869, Charles Dickens, The Uncommercial Traveller, ch. 18:
      Is there any analogy, in certain constitutions, between keeping an umbrella up, and keeping the spirits up?
    • 1901, Edith Wharton, The Valley of Decision, ch. 12:
      The old analogy likening the human mind to an imperfect mirror, which modifies the images it reflects, occurred more than once to Odo.
    • 1983, "How to Write Programs," Time, 3 Jan.:
      Perhaps the easiest way to think of it is in terms of a simple analogy: hardware is to software as a television set is to the shows that appear on it.
    • 2002, Harlan Coben, Gone for Good, ISBN 9780440236733, p. 75:
      A kid living on the street is a bit like — and please pardon the analogy here — a weed.

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