Analogies - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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a·nal·o·gy

Audio Help [uh-nal-uh-jee] Pronunciation Key

–noun, plural -gies.

1.	a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based: the analogy between the heart and a pump.

2.	similarity or comparability: I see no analogy between your problem and mine.

3.	Biology. an analogous relationship.

Linguistics.

a.	the process by which words or phrases are created or re-formed according to existing patterns in the language, as when shoon was re-formed as shoes, when -ize is added to nouns like winter to form verbs, or when a child says foots for feet.

b.	a form resulting from such a process.

5.	Logic. a form of reasoning in which one thing is inferred to be similar to another thing in a certain respect, on the basis of the known similarity between the things in other respects.

[Origin: 1530–40; < L analogia < Gk. See analogous, -y³

]

—Synonyms 1. comparison, likeness, resemblance, similitude, affinity. 2. correspondence.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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Analogies

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a·nal·o·gy Audio Help (ə-nāl'ə-jē) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. a·nal·o·gies

1. Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.
2. A comparison based on such similarity. See Synonyms at likeness.
Biology Correspondence in function or position between organs of dissimilar evolutionary origin or structure.
A form of logical inference or an instance of it, based on the assumption that if two things are known to be alike in some respects, then they must be alike in other respects.
Linguistics The process by which words or morphemes are re-formed or created on the model of existing grammatical patterns in a language, often leading to greater regularity in paradigms, as evidenced by helped replacing holp and holpen as the past tense and past participle of help on the model of verbs such as yelp, yelped, yelped.