We explain what it means metaphorically, how it should be understood and what a metaphor is. Also, examples explained.
What does it mean metaphorically?
When we say something metaphorically, we are making a comparison between one thing and another, in order to better explain the latter or to express ourselves in a more effective, beautiful or interesting way.
That is to say, we are resorting to a metaphorical sense, or what is the same, we are making a metaphor: establishing a comparison between one thing and another with which it shares a certain specific meaning. In fact, the word "metaphor" comes from the Greek metapherein (that is: “place outside” or “displace”),
Let's start by understanding how a metaphor works, which is one of the main rhetorical figures known, that is, one of the main resources we use to beautify the language or to make it more resounding, more effective. The metaphor consists of taking a referent and comparing it with another, in order to “displace” or “transfer” part of its meaning.
For example, if we say that when receiving a gift, a person's face "lighted up with joy", we are comparing the person's face with a lamp or some device that can be illuminated, that is, filled with light, and when making said comparison we are saying that the effect of joy on the person's face was similar to what happens when we turn on a lamp in a dark room.
On the contrary, we could say that a person who suffers a loss has a "dull" or "dark" face, since he lacks the "light" of joy.
Therefore, what is said metaphorically must be understood, precisely, as a metaphor. They should not, therefore, be taken literally, but said as part of an expressive resource, whose purpose is to better illustrate what was said. That's why a antonym direct from this word would be “literally”, that is, it must be understood literally. For example:
- "Mario's brothers plucked him, metaphorically" means that they took something from him (generally money) until "leaving him like a chicken without feathers", an image that conveys a feeling of helplessness, lack, nakedness. Obviously, Mario can't literally be fleeced by his brothers, unless Mario is the name of a chicken or a bird.
- "Yesterday I collapsed in pain, metaphorically" means that the person suffered a great pain, possibly emotional, that made him feel as if he collapsed in the street. If, instead, the person says that he literally collapsed, it means that in fact he fell on the ground in the street because the pain was so great that he could not stand up.
- “I devoured Cortázar's novel, but metaphorically” means that he liked the novel in question so much that he read it very avidly and quickly, like a predator devouring his prey. If instead it is stated that he literally devoured the book, it means that the person ate it, that is, that he chewed and swallowed the paper and cardboard from which the book in question was made.