This page introduces the use of simile in discussing science. The list of examples of similes from various sources (scientists' writing, science journalism, popular science books, etc.) has now been moved to a separate page.
Simile
A simile is a figure of speech where one thing is said to be 'like' / 'as' another – as an explicit way of suggesting a comparison.
A simile is different from a metaphor, as in metaphor the comparison is implicit (one thing is said to be another, although this is not meant to be taken literally). [See the note at the foot of the page.]
Read about 'Science metaphors'
I also consider comparisons as similes rather than metaphors where they are marked by the use of inverted commas as 'scare quotes', or qualified by phrases such as "if you like", "so to speak" or "kind of".
| metaphor | simile | taken as simile |
| the nucleus is the brain of the cell | the nucleus is like the brain of the cell; the nucleus acts as the brain to a cell | the nucleus is the 'brain' of the cell; the nucleus is, so to speak, the brain of the cell; the nucleus is kind of the brain of the cell, etc. |
Similes may be used as thinking and communication techniques. In teaching, comparisons such as similes may be used as one way to 'make the unfamiliar familiar'.
Read more about 'Making the unfamiliar familiar'
An simile that has commonly been used in teaching about atomic structure is that 'the atom is like a tiny solar system'. (This simile is developed into an analogy if the comparison is explained by drawing parallels between the two systems.)
Read about a research paper on 'Upper Secondary Students' Understanding of the Basic Physical Interactions in Analogous Atomic and Solar Systems'
Comparisons such as metaphors and similes can be found in teaching and textbooks, but also in learners' own thinking, in scientists' own work, and in popular accounts of science.
I have collected a wide selection of examples of similes used to introduce/explain scientific ideas, and an index of these can be found on another page on this site:
Read examples of similes for scientific concepts
Read examples of metaphors for scientific concepts
Read examples of analogies for scientific concepts
Note on analogies, similes and metaphors.
In practice the precise demarcations between similes, metaphors (and anthropomorphisms) and analogies may not be absolutely clear. I have tried to follow the rule that if a comparison is set out to make a structural mapping clear (even if this is not spelt out as a mapping: e.g., an atom with its electrons is like a sun with its planets) this counts as an analogy. Where I do not think a comparison is an analogy, but the comparison is made explicit ("…as if…", "…like…": e.g., the atom, like a tiny solar system) I consider this a simile. When the audience is left to spot a comparison (rather than a literal identity) is being made (e.g., the oxygen atom, this tiny solar system) I class this a metaphor.
Anthropomorphism may be seen as a particular kind of metaphor where a metaphorical feature implies a non-human entity has human attributes (e.g., meteors can be impetuous).
I reserve the right to reassign some of these comparisons in due course!
