Dead Metaphor

nounverified·updated May 18, 2026

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a metaphor that has occurred so often that it has become a new meaning of the expression (e.g., `he is a snake' may once have been a metaphor but after years of use it has died and become a new sense of the word `snake')

MWE

Classifications

per-axis with provenance

Entity Type

Unknown—authoritativeglossary_import_default_pending_classifier

?unassignedlast reviewed —

Sensitivity

unclassified

Information Class

unclassified

Variants

4 surface forms

synonym: frozen metaphor
plural: Dead Metaphors
possessive: Dead Metaphor's
pluralpossessive: Dead Metaphors'

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