All words

analogous

Meaning

Showing a correspondence or resemblance in some essential respects, which makes something sufficiently similar to something else for a comparison to be drawn.

Examples by difficulty

Basic: Simple, everyday vocabulary — the easiest to read.

Her frantic search for her lost keys felt analogous to a frantic search for a missing child. Both situations involve a rising panic, a desperate need to find something vital, and a growing sense of dread with every passing minute.

The worn leather of the old pilot's glove was analogous to the faded maps spread across the table. Both showed the same signs of use, the same hopeful journeys etched into their surfaces, telling stories of distant lands and a longing for adventure.

The child’s first wobbly steps across the dusty floor felt oddly analogous to the explorer setting foot on new soil. Each tentative movement, a leap into the unknown, sparked the same mix of fear and wild, triumphant hope.

My sock drawer is a chaotic jungle, much like my brain after too much pizza. Both are crammed with mismatched things, lost items, and the lingering smell of something questionable. It's an analogous situation, really, one that makes me want to buy a bigger drawer and maybe a helmet.

My pet rock, Bartholomew, has a surprisingly important job. His stillness is analogous to a sloth taking a nap, showing a correspondence in their shared passion for doing absolutely nothing. Bartholomew's rock-solid dedication to inactivity is certainly similar enough to Bartholomew's dozing to draw a comparison between them.

Normal: Standard, everyday language.

Her hesitant apology felt analogous to a child admitting they broke a toy. The same quiet shame, the same fear of disappointing someone important, was evident in both. You could see the same feeling in their eyes, a shared understanding of making a mistake.

The way the bioluminescent algae pulsed in the deep trench felt analogous to the flickering neon signs of the abandoned arcade back home. Both were faint lights in vast darkness, hinting at something lost or forgotten, a shared quiet desperation.

The old sailor squinted at the worn charts, tracing the currents with a calloused finger. He saw a pattern in the churning waves that was analogous to the unpredictable anger he'd seen in his captain before a storm, a similar force shaping everything around them.

My cat's obsession with chasing a red laser dot is analogous to my uncle's quest for the last slice of pizza. Both involve a frantic, laser-like focus, a desperate lunge, and ultimately, profound disappointment when the prize vanishes.

My cat's obsession with meticulously arranging his kibble into tiny, precise piles is analogous to a seasoned librarian alphabetizing a shelf of rare, dusty tomes. Both involve a deep, inexplicable need for order, even if one protagonist occasionally pauses to lick himself inappropriately.

Advanced: Richer vocabulary that stretches an upper-level reader.

The sting of disappointment after a failed project felt analogous to the hollow ache of a missed connection. Both left a raw emptiness, a sense of what could have been, making the comparison starkly, uncomfortably clear.

The way the old lighthouse keeper meticulously cataloged each passing ship, noting their flags and cargo, felt analogous to how a mycologist classifies rare fungi. Both were systems built on observation, searching for the subtle, defining characteristics that separated one from another, ensuring proper understanding and identification.

The delicate balance of the solar-powered algae farm, with its intricate nutrient recycling and light sensitivity, felt analogous to the intricate social hierarchy of the ant colony I'd studied. Both systems, despite vastly different scales and life forms, relied on a profound interdependence for survival.

The captain, a grizzled veteran of intergalactic skirmishes, observed the alien’s bizarre negotiation tactic. His utterly inexplicable offer of three pickled onions for the warp drive was, in a way, analogous to a toddler demanding a pony in exchange for helping with chores. Both were profoundly illogical, yet possessed a strange, stubborn core of intent.

My uncle's attempt to parallel park a shopping cart filled with particularly ripe durians was analogous to a badger attempting to play the tuba during a seismic event; both involved a certain chaotic energy, a profound lack of control, and a scent that could clear a stadium.

Challenging: Rare, high-register vocabulary for serious word lovers.

The gnawing hunger felt analogous to the icy grip of winter, a persistent discomfort that consumed all other sensations. Just as the earth lay dormant, awaiting spring, my body yearned for sustenance, a vital equilibrium to be restored.

The intricate network of fungal hyphae spreading beneath the forest floor felt analogous to the sprawling, interconnected data pathways of a nascent AI. Both structures, unseen and complex, facilitated vital transfers of sustenance and information, a fundamental resemblance that underscored their shared, emergent purpose.

The nascent bioluminescent algae's rhythmic pulsing against the abyssal plain was analogous to the flicker of gas lamps in a forgotten Victorian alleyway; both represented feeble defiance against an overwhelming, encroaching darkness, a desperate signal of existence when all else succumbed to oblivion.

My uncle’s convoluted explanation for his sock-matching system was, frankly, analogous to a quantum physicist attempting to explain why a black cat crossed his path. Both involved intricate, nigh-incomprehensible pronouncements, leaving the listener awash in bewilderment, yet somehow hinting at a logic just beyond their grasp.

The octopus's eight prehensile appendages, each capable of independent, complex manipulation, are analogous to a squadron of highly trained sous-chefs navigating a chaotic, multi-course degustation. This parallel, though whimsical, highlights their shared capacity for distributed, intricate task execution, much like a maestro conducting a symphony of simmering sauces and precisely diced mirepoix.

Difficulty

Normal — Everyday words worth reinforcing.

Appears in

Play word games with analogous Take the 2 minute vocabulary size test