Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Analogy |
AnalogyNoun1. An inference that if things agree in some respects they probably agree in others. 2. Drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity in some respect; "the operation of a computer presents and interesting analogy to the working of the brain"; "the models show by analogy how matter is built up". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "analogy" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
Etymology: Analogy \A*nal"o*gy\, noun; plural Analogies. [Latin expression analogia, Greek: compare to the French expression analogie. See Analogous.]. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
An analogy is a comparison between two things. Analogies are often used to introduce new concepts, by comparing them to something familiar, or to support political and philosophical arguments.In anatomy, two anatomical structures are considered to be analogous when they serve similar functions but are not evolutionarily related, such as the legs of vertebrates and the legs of insects. Analogous structures are the result of convergent evolution and should be contrasted with homologous structures.
In linguistics, analogy is a process that reduces forms perceived as irregular by remaking them in the shape of more common forms that are governed by rules. For example, the English verb help once had the preterite holp and the past participle holpen. These obsolete forms have been discarded and replaced by helped by the power of analogy.
The SAT college entrance test includes "analogy" questions that ask for comparisons between analogies: A is to B as C is to what? For example:
Certain aspects of analogy have a precise formulation in mathematics as the concept of isomorphism.
- Hand is to palm as foot is to ____?
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Analogy."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Analogy | Noun: analogy, association, association of ideas. |
Comparison | Simile, similitude, analogy (similarity); allegory; (metaphor). |
Relation | Noun: relation, bearing, reference, connection, concern,. cognation; correlation; analogy; similarity; affinity, homology, alliance, homogeneity, association; approximation; (nearness); filiation; (consanguinity); interest; relevancy; dependency, relationship, relative position. |
Similarity | Noun: similarity, resemblance, likeness, similitude, semblance; affinity, approximation, parallelism; agreement; analogy, analogicalness; correspondence, homoiousia, parity. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | That analogy has bathed me in relief (Postcards from the Edge; writing credit: Carrie Fisher) That's actually not a bad analogy. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Benjamin Disraeli | Nationality is the miracle of political independence; race is the principle of physical analogy. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Rush Limbaugh | My friends, you've heard my analogy about the sniper and the economic impact suffered during those three weeks and how, therefore, people's feelings of security in their neighborhoods and homes is linked to the economy. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Analogy" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Analogy" is used about 931 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 931 | 7,751 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name |
| USA | Analogy, Inc. |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "analogy": analogy Model ♦ analogy similarity ♦ by analogy ♦ by analogy with ♦ draw an analogy ♦ hydrodynamic analogy ♦ make an analogy between ♦ on the analogy ♦ on the analogy of. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "analogy"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | analogie. (various references) | |
Albanian | analogji, ngjashmëri (correspondence, identity, image, kinship, likeness, parallel, parallelism, propinquity, resemblance, sameness, similarity, similitude). (various references) | |
Arabic | مماثلة (identification), تجانس (assort, homogeneity, identity, sympathize), تشابه جزئي, التناظر الوظيفي. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | сходство (affinity, agreement, comparison, congeniality, congruence, convergence, likeness, resemblance, sameness, similarity), аналогия (parallel, parity), подобие (analogue, effigy, likeness, parity, portrait, propinquity, replica, semblance, shadow, similarity, similitude, simulacrum). (various references) | |
Chinese | 比喻 (Analogies, figurative). (various references) | |
Czech | analogie, podobnost (image, resemblance, similarity, similitude), obdoba (twin). (various references) | |
Danish | analogi. (various references) | |
Dutch | analogie. (various references) | |
Esperanto | analogio, analogeco. (various references) | |
Farsi | مقایسه (Collation, Comparison, Resemblance), همانندی (Likelihoood, Likeness, Resemblance), قیاس (Deduction, Parable, Proportion, Syllogism), تناسب (Congruence, Cooridnation, Proportion, Propriety, Scale, Symmetry), توافق (Accord, Accordance, Adhesion, Agreement, Band, Coincidence, Compromise, Concord, Concurrence, Consistency, Rapport, Settlement, Understanding), شباهت (Analog, Analogue, Equality, Likeness, Propinquity, Proportion, Resemblance, Semblance). (various references) | |
Finnish | analogia. (various references) | |
French | analogie. (various references) | |
Frisian | analogy. (various references) | |
German | Analogie. (various references) | |
Greek | αναλογία (proportion, quota, rate). (various references) | |
Hebrew | שתוף (communion, community, joining, participation, partnership, sharing), אנלוגיה (analogue), המשלה (control, metaphor), השואה (comparison, contrast, equalization, resemblance), הקש (comparison, syllogism), דמיה (similarity), גזרה שוה (inference, syllogism). (various references) | |
Hungarian | analógia, hasonlóság (conformity, resemblance, semblance, similarity). (various references) | |
Indonesian | analogi, persamaan (equality, equation, parallel), kias. (various references) | |
Italian | analogia. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 類推 , 類比 , 相似 (resemblance, similarity), アナログ時計 (analog clock, analogue watch, anime karaoke, annealing, karaoke accompanied by animation). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | そうじ (Buddhist priest, cleaning, farewell address, resemblance, similarity, sweeping, temple with a resident priest), アナロジー , るいすい, るいひ. (various references) | |
Korean | 유례 (Analogies). (various references) | |
Manx | cosoyley (affinity, instance, semblance, simile, symbol, symbolism). (various references) | |
Papiamen | analogia. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | analogyay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | analogia (conformity, parity, resemblance, similarity, simile). (various references) | |
Romanian | analogie (levelling, likeness, parallel, parallelism, parity, similarity), afinitate (affinity, congeniality, resemblance, similarity), comparaţie (compare, comparison, similitude). (various references) | |
Russian | аналогия (parallel). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | analogija. (various references) | |
Spanish | analogía. (various references) | |
Swedish | analogi. (various references) | |
Turkish | analoji, karşılaştırma (check, collation, comparision, crosscheck, reference), kıyas (comparing, comparison, syllogism), benzerlik (affinity, approach, community, comparison, conformity, congeniality, identity, kinship, likeness, mimicry, parallel, parallelism, parity, propinquity, resemblance, sameness, similar, similarity, similitude), benzeşim, örnekseme. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | схожість (affinity, appetency, comparison, likeness, propinquity, resemblance, sameness, similarity, similitude), рівність відношень, аналогія (correspondence), подібність (comparison, kinship, likeness, resemblance, similarity). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sự tương tự (correlativeness). (various references) | |
Welsh | cyfatebiaeth (correspondence), cydweddiad. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | analogia. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | consequens, consequenti. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Analogy" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: amalogy, analagy, analaogy, analgy, analigy, anality, analo, analoge, analogie, analotg, analoty, anaolog, anatogy, anlog, anolog, anology, naology, paralogy. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "analogy" (pronounced una"lujē) |
| 4 | -l u j ē | anesthesiology, anthology, anthropology, apology, archaeology, archeology, astrology, bacteriology, biology, biotechnology, cardiology, chronology, cosmetology, cosmology, criminology, cytology, dendrochronology, dermatology, kinesiology, doxology, ecology, elegy, embryology, endocrinology, entomology, epidemiology, epistemology, ethnology, ethology, etiology, etymology, eulogy, genealogy, geology, geomorphology, gerontology, graphology, gynecology, histology, Hymnology, ideology, immunology, limnology, meteorology, methodology, microbiology, micropaleontology, mineralogy, morphology, mycology, mythology, neurology, numerology, oncology, ontology, ophthalmology, ornithology, otology, paleontology, pathology, penology, petrology, pharmacology, physiology, Pomology, psychology, radiology, rheumatology, seismology, serology, sociology, terminology, theology, toxicology, trilogy, urology, virology, zoology. |
| 3 | -u j ē | prodigy, strategy. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-g-l-n-o-y" | |
-1 letter: agonal, analog. | |
-2 letters: agony, alang, along, gayal, lagan, logan, nyala. | |
-3 letters: agly, agon, alan, alga, anal, anga, anoa, gala, gaol, goal, lang, loan, logy, long, only, yang, yoga. | |
-4 letters: aal, aga, ago, ala, ana, any, gal, gan, gay, goa, goy, lag, lay, log, nag, nay, nog, yon. | |
-5 letters: aa, ag, al, an, ay, go, la. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-g-l-n-o-y" | |
+2 letters: synagogal. | |
+3 letters: arrogantly, diagonally, gyrational. | |
+4 letters: analogously, angioplasty, campanology, hexagonally, narratology, octagonally, organically, planography, thanatology. | |
+5 letters: aboriginally, agranulocyte, anagogically, analogically, pentagonally, tetragonally. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
