Similes Dictionary

Language "Appealing As Sunlight After a Storm."

A sentence should read as if its author, had he held a plough instead of a pen, could have drawn a furrow deep and straight to the end. ―Henry David Thoreau
Prose consists of … phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house. ―George Orwell

Whether it invokes hard work or merely a hen-house, a good simile is like a good picture—it's worth a thousand words. Packed with more than 16,000 imaginative, colorful phrases—from “abandoned as a used Kleenex” to “quiet as an eel swimming in oil”—the Similes Dictionary will help any politician, writer, or lover of language find just the right saying, be it original or banal, verbose or succinct. Your thoughts will never be "as tedious as a twice-told tale" or "dry as the Congressional Record." Choose from elegant turns of phrases “as useful as a Swiss army knife” and “varied as expressions of the human face”.

Citing more than 2,000 sources—from the Bible, Socrates, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, and H. L. Mencken to popular movies, music, and television shows—the Similes Dictionary covers hundreds of subjects broken into thematic categories that include topics such as virtue, anger, age, ambition, importance, and youth, helping you find the fitting phrase quickly and easily.

Perfect for setting the atmosphere, making a point, or helping spin a tale with economy, intelligence, and ingenuity, the vivid comparisons found in this collection will inspire anyone.

Love comforteth like sunshine after rain. ―William Shakespeare
A face like a bucket ―Raymond Chandler
A man with little learning is like the frog who thinks its puddle a great sea. ―Burmese proverb
Peace, like charity, begins at home ―Franklin Delano Roosevelt
You know a dream is like a river ever changing as it flows. ―Garth Brooks
Fit as a fiddle ―John Ray’s Proverbs
He's not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. ―Arthur Miller
Ring true, like good china. ―Sylvia Plath
Music yearning like a God in pain ―John Keats
Busy as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. ―Pat Conroy
Enduring as mother love ―Anonymous

Elyse Sommer is the author or editor of numerous titles, including "Discovering Literature," "The Kids' World Almanac of Music," "Metaphors Dictionary," and "Strategies for Reading and Arguing About Literature." She is the editor, publisher, and chief critic of the online theater magazine Curtainup.com. She lives in Forest Hills, New York.