metaphorically

adverbB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,318 of 15,258neutral

Metaphorically means in a way that describes one thing by calling it another. Speaking metaphorically.

It is the opposite of literally, which is the word people use when they mean this one. Almost every abstract word in English began metaphorically as something physical.

Definitions of metaphorically

1adverbmetaphoricallyIn a way that describes one thing by calling it another outright, as when a stubborn person is called a brick wall.B2+
“He meant it metaphorically and half the room did not.”

metaphorically is a manner.

Where it comes from

From metaphorical + -ly.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

metaphorically in the wild

The word "bookend" is also used metaphorically to refer to any pair of similar things that mark a beginning and an end.
Bookend
The term is also used metaphorically to describe a person engaging in often flamboyant, impromptu, or unofficial public speaking.
Soapbox
In derogatory context, the term is often used to metaphorically describe a position of self-righteousness.
Moral high ground
Friable is sometimes used metaphorically to describe "brittle" personalities who can be "rubbed" by seemingly-minor stimuli to produce extreme emotional responses.
Friability
A sexual predator is a person seen as obtaining or trying to obtain sexual contact with another person in a metaphorically "predatory" or abusive manner.
Sexual predator

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

metaphorical

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