50 Simile Examples: Definition and How To Use?

Simile in the English language and literature denotes words used to compare something or show commonness in meaning. To exemplify, the most commonly used simile examples are: like and as. You can say Thomas Hardy was a novelist like Charles Dickens.

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

Here, like is a simile. Rosy wore a gown as white as milk. In this case, as is a simile. You can also use the word similarly to give a simile to something or in a sentence. Similar to William Shakespeare, poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge often used innuendoes. Here, similar is a simile. A simile is an integral part of the English figure of speech. Often, it is used to directly compare the two things in English literature.

What are 50 Examples of Similes?

You can find many simile examples in the English language. It is also used in idioms, sayings, phrases and usages. This trend is continuing for centuries together.

We are listing below 50 such examples which are used very often both in colloquial, phrases and literary pieces:

Drink like a fish
Swim like a fish
Like a fish out of water
As cold as ice
As light as a feather
As black as coal
White as a sheet
As white as a ghost
As old as the hills
As busy as a bee
Blind as a bat
Deaf as a post
Dry as a bone
Eat like a pig
Fresh as daisy
Go out like a light
Good as gold
Hard as nails
High as kite
Sleeping like a log
Sleeps like a baby
Large as life
Like a bull in a China shop
Like a red rag to a bull
Charging like a bull
Like water off a duck’s back
Mad as a hatter
Quiet as a mouse
Regular as clockwork
As sweet as sugar
Safe as house
As strong as an oak
Sleep like a dog
Sniff like a dog
Work like a dog
As faithful as a dog
Work like a charm
Thunder roared like an angry lion
Kind as an angel
Fighting like cats and dog
As slow as a sloth
As innocent as a lamb
As proud as a peacock
As tall as a giraffe
As clear as crystal
Jumping like a frog
Sings like a cuckoo
Climbs like a monkey
Fall like teardrops
Chatters like monkey

Why do We Use Similes?

Similes beautify the sentences. It makes comparison easy. We are giving below 10 reasons why we use similes:

Comparison between two or more nouns using like or as.
To specify certain special qualities in something or someone.
To exemplify or give examples.
In the visualization of something.
For better conceptualization of something.
Make the expression more lively.
Make a mental image of something in comparison to two things with the same meaning.
To make the graphic description of two things.
Easily grasp the meaning (in comparison of two things)
Linguistically strengthen an expression.

What are Some Famous Simile Literature Examples?

The simile is used by the English litterateurs very often in poems, stories, novels, dramas, lyrics and plays. It not only adds rhythms but also helps to define something vividly to give examples between two things.

We are citing below five such famous instances of similes in English literature:

i. Poem “A Birthday” by Christina Rossetti:

My heart is like a singing bird

Whose nest is in a water’d shoot;

My heart is like an apple-tree

Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;

My heart is like a rainbow shell

That paddles in a halcyon sea;

My heart is gladder than all these

Because my love is come to me.

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare:

‘I am as constant as the Northern Star, Of whose true fixed and resting quality there is no fellow in the firmament.’

‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens:

‘Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret and self-contained and solitary as an oyster.

‘Daffodils’ by William Wordsworth:

‘I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o’er vales and hills.’

‘Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen:

‘…if you lament over him much longer, my heart will be as light as a feather.’

What is the Difference Between a Simile and a Metaphor?

The simile has a metaphorical effect. They are both used to compare something or understand similarities between two things.

There, however, is a difference between simile and metaphor. While a simile is used mainly using words like or as to compare two things indirectly, the metaphor will directly compare two different things:

The following five examples can clarify it:

Simile: Love is like a battlefield.

Metaphor: Love is a battlefield.

Simile: She is as kind as an angel.

Metaphor: She is an angel.

Simile: Life is like a spring. It flows like water

Metaphor: Life flows like water from a spring.

Simile: Tom said my life is as hard as a dog….work, work and always work.

Metaphor: Tom said just like a dog, I am always working.

Simile: Rosy is as busy as a bee.

Metaphor: Rosy always keeps busy like a bee.

How Can I Teach Similes to Everyone?

You can teach similes to a student by adopting the following 10 (academic or pedagogical) methods:

Teach them how poets used similes in the sentences to complete a line keeping in view the meaning of the whole stanza of the poem.
Ask them to read important expressions relating to the use of similes in stories or plays of eminent writers and novelists.
Teach simile applications or uses to the students when they are in their primary classes.
You quote famous lines or stanzas of a poem in which similes were applied in a flexible manner for better understanding.
Give them examples of similes while explaining the meaning or defining simile.
Ask your students to write a piece in English on something using similes.
The pictorial study can help students to learn simile applications in a better manner. Give them a picture or painting and ask them to write a paragraph on it taking the help of similes.
Give your students some objects like the sun, moon or star and ask them to explain something about these objects using similes. Like the full moon looks as a golden disc.
Create lessons on similes and ask your students to practice using similes in sentences.
Give them examples of some proverbs, idioms or usages in which similes have been used.

Some Simile Examples in Music

In music, similes are used for ages together. The similes were used to convey a special meaning to the sense of such songs. The following five simile examples in music can prove it:

“Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan described beautifully how a rich woman fell into poverty after losing all her wealth:

“How does it feel To be without a home

Like a completely unknown

Like a rolling stone?”

The song Stitches by Shawn Mendes (Songwriters Danny Parker and Teddy Geiger) expresses a comparison between physical hurt and emotional pain in the following creative way:

“Just like a moth drawn to a flame

Oh, you lured me in, I couldn’t sense the pain

Your bitter heart cold to the touch

Now I’m gonna reap what I sow

I’m left seeing red on my own”

In the song “Bridge over Troubled Water” by Simon & Garfunkel, gives a simile of how friendship can act as an emotional bridge when some problems crop up (in friendship):

“I’m on your side

When times get rough

And friends just can’t be found

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will lay me down”

Bob Seger in the song Like a Rock expresses the desire of mankind to go back to their days of youth in the following manner:

“Like a rock, I was strong as I could be

Like a rock, nothin’, ever got to me

Like a rock, I was something to see

Like a rock.”

In the song It’s My Life, Bon Jovi compares his life with an open highway using similes:

“My heart is like an open highway

Like Frankie said

I did it my way

I just wanna live while I’m alive

It’s my life.”

Few Simile Examples in Poetry

Similes are traditionally used in English poetry. Almost all famous poets used similes to beautify their poetic creations. We are giving below five such examples:

i. Emily Dickinson composed “Hope” is the thing with feathers using similes that juxtaposed beautifully to express the meaning:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –

That perches in the soul –

And sings the tune without the words –

And never stops – at all –

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –

And sore must be the storm –

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm –

I’ve heard it in the chillest land –

And on the strangest Sea –

Yet – never – in Extremity,

It asked a crumb – of me.

ii. A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns uses similes to subtly express the meaning using the following mode:

O my Luve is like a red, red rose

That’s newly sprung in June;

O my Luve is like the melody

That’s sweetly played in tune.

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;

I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only luve!

And fare thee weel awhile!

And I will come again, my luve,

Though it were ten thousand miles.

iii. Langston Hughes uses metaphors and similes in his poem Harlem in the following manner:

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore—

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over—

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

iv. Jan Taylor’s very famous rhyme or children’s poem Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star most beautifully uses similes. You can have a look at this poem:

“Twinkle, twinkle little star,

How I wonder what you are

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky”

v. There is a beautiful poem titled Simile. This poetic creation is by N. Scott Momaday. This poem runs like this:

“What did we say to each other

that now we are as the deer

who walk in single file

with heads high

with ears forward

with eyes watchful

with hooves always placed on firm ground

in whose limbs there is latent flight”

Cool Simile Examples in Film & TV

There are some examples of similes that we find in television serials, TV programs and films. The following five examples can serve our purpose of knowing the cool similes in films and TV:

i. Forest Grump movie:

Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.

ii. The Last Don film: :

Life is like a box of hand grenades. You never know what will blow you to kingdom come.

iii. Paul Attanasio says in his TV show popular as Quiz Show:

That’s a pretty big cigar! Of course, we don’t think this is literal, we just know he’s got a large ring-gauged cigar hanging out of his mouth.

iv. In the Disney program The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, there is a nice simile piece which is:

I’m just a little black raincloud

Hovering under the honey tree

I’m only a little black raincloud

Pay no attention to little me

v. It’s a small world – Disney Chorus

It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears

It’s a world of hopes and a world of fears

There’s so much that we share that it’s time we’re aware

It’s a small world after all

Some Common Examples of Similes

Similes are used very often in the English language and literature. We are listing below five common examples of similes that are used regularly:

i. Jane is as proud as a peacock

ii. Samson is as brave as a lion

iii. My grandfather is as tough as nails

iv. Our security guard is as strong as an ox

v. He is as sly as a fox

Most Simile Examples Used

Some similes are used in our day-to-day life. That makes them the most used similes. We are giving five such examples below:

i. drinking like a fish

ii. swimming like a fish

iii. shining like a diamond

iv. sings like an angel

v. as sweet as sugar

Arjun Kumar

Flip Updates

Recent Posts