What is a Simile? Definition & Examples

Similes in Action

Simile examples in literature

In literature, the writer has only words to conjure a picture in their readers mind. Here are some simile examples that accomplish that excellently.

• "He looks like right after the maul hits the steer and it no longer alive and don't yet know that it is dead."
  — As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
  
  
• "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."
  — A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns
  
  
• "The cafe was like a battleship stripped for action."
  — The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Simile Examples in Film

Simile vs metaphor

Literary devices can often be very similar, yet differ in one specific and important way. One common question when it comes to this literary device is “What’s the difference between simile and metaphor?” Here’s your answer:

• A simile uses the words “like” or “as” to explicitly compare two things. 
• A metaphor implicitly states the comparison by stating the way something simply "is."
  
  

Let’s look at a couple examples:

• Simile — Love is like a battlefield.
• Metaphor — Love is a battlefield.
• Simile — The sun was like a spotlight.
• Metaphor — The sun was a spotlight.
• Simile — She ran as though she was a cheetah.
• Metaphor — She was a cheetah when she ran.
  
  

Both approaches can have the same meaning, it’s just that the simile is more obviously a comparison.

What’s a simile

Analogy vs simile

In a way, analogies and similes are even more tricky to differentiate than similes and metaphors.

There are two types of analogies:

• Shared abstraction: These are analogies that compare two unlike things to make a point.
• Identical relationship: These are analogies that create a logical formula to explain a relationship (“A teacher is to education as a trunk is to a tree.”).
  
  

Shared abstraction analogies are the ones which can most often be confused with similes.

Take this sentence: “Our manager approached his work like a mule.” This is a simile, comparing the manager to a mule. 

Now let’s add to the statement: “Our manager approached his work like a mule; he never tired and never responded well to feedback.” This is an analogy, since the comparison is explaining the manager’s work ethic– he’s stubborn and ceaseless.

A few more shared abstraction analogies:

• Making a smart investment is like planting a seed– eventually, it will bear fruit.
• “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances.”
• Time is like a runaway train; it stops for no one.

Character Development

Use simile to understand character

One of the most important aspects in all of storytelling is character. Character’s are vital in connecting to the audience. Creating a successful character begins with developing traits and characteristics that an audience resonates with. The lack of depth of a character can often be the deciding factor to a bad movie. It is important to understand how to create characters that engage the audience.

Once you’ve developed your character and pinpointed who they are, you must creatively communicate that to the audience. Oftentimes, filmmakers use a simile to establish the traits of a character or hint at subtext, which can be difficult to summarize or communicate efficiently. 

What’s a simile example that demonstrates this? One can be found in the Shrek screenplay. We imported it into StudioBinder’s screenwriting software to analyze how screenwriters William Steig and Ted Elliott use a simile to communicate the Shrek's complexities by comparing him to an onion.

In this dialogue, Shrek is trying to tell Donkey that ogres are more complex than people think. To summarize this characteristic concisely, a simile is used to compare the layers of an onion to the intricacies of an ogre like Shrek.

Themes in Film

Use simile to communicate themes

Themes in film can often be difficult to communicate to an audience in a short period of time. Although themes are vital to good storytelling, they can be robust, complex, or long-winded so screenwriters utilize comparisons to summarize these complex themes more simply for the audience to understand right away. Sometimes, writing better dialogue means writing smarter dialogue.

Take a look at this example from Forrest Gump. Within the first two pages of the screenplay, screenwriter Eric Roth introduces one of the core themes of the film. In this scene, Forrest offers a woman next to him some chocolate along with one of his mother’s best pieces of advice.

Roth uses a simile to compare a box of chocolates to life and how both can be unpredictable. This theme appropriately opens up the film as it follows the unpredictable events of Forrest’s life. The simile comes around full circle at the end of the movie in a tear-jerking scene.

Because the simile is concise, eloquent, and packed full of meaning, Roth is able to interject it as a motif within the dialogue. Similes aren’t only used to pack an emotional punch. They are often to nail an iconic one-liner or punch line in our list of best comedies.

Examples in Film

Use simile for exaggeration

Similes can be used to hyperbolize or exaggerate a point a character wants to make. This is often used in comedy to both emphasize a point and make a joke. Consider this moment from Step Brothers.

Here, Brennan is singing for the first time in front of Dale. After singing, Brennan is insecure and does not know if Dale genuinely liked his singing or not. Dale continues to reassure him that his singing is amazing. 

Now, let’s take a look at the screenplay, which did not utilize this comparison. John C. Reilly improvised the line “Your voice is like a combination of Fergie and Jesus.”