Definition extracted with permission from Simon, Fritz, et al, Family Process, Inc.: Language of Family Therapy: A Systemic Vocabulary and Source Book (Family Process Press Series)
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metaphor (family psychotherapy glossary)
Metaphor [Greek metaphora, a transferring to one word the sense of another; from metapherein; meta, over + pherein, to bear] refers to a turn of speech that is used in a figurative, nonliteral sense. Although a metaphor is a "figure of speech," it has much in common with analogue communication; in both there is an analogy between the evoked image and that which it is intended to express.