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allegory Definition

al·le·gory (alə gôr′ē)

noun pl. allegories -·ries

  1. a story in which people, things, and happenings have a hidden or symbolic meaning: allegories are used for teaching or explaining ideas, moral principles, etc.
  2. the presenting of ideas by means of such stories
  3. any symbol or emblem

Etymology: ME allegorie < L allegoria < Gr allēgoria, description of one thing under the image of another < allos, other (see else) + agoreuein, to speak in assembly < agora, agora

allegory Synonyms

allegory

n.

moral story, allegorical representation, parable, fable; see story.

allegory Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • write: Why, then, would a Puritan like Bunyan write allegory at all?
  • become: The three stories are closely interwoven, and the story of Chess becomes an allegory to link them all.
  • use: Orwell's review contains a clear and early form of the allegory used in Animal Farm.
  • make: Were we disposed to make the allegory of the eighth day, theirs would not be the proper mode of it.
  • call: All this appears in the ritual in the form of a story or fable, called an allegory.
  • depict: The Colnaghi picture depicts an allegory of sin and redemption.

Adjective modifier

  • Manichean: Who loved children manichean allegory the world series of has to sell.
  • political: But then there's ' Animal Farm ' , perhaps the best known political allegory ever written.
  • historical: The film succeeds not only in terms of action and suspense but as cautionary fable, historical allegory, social satire and moral disquisition.
  • great: The arresting cover is a wraparound of Gilbert and George's great panoramic allegory of 1983, Drunk with God.

Noun used with modifier

  • century: The Concorde project - a 20th century allegory For a quarter of a century Concorde provided the only regular supersonic travel.

Preposition: of

  • life: He imagines the dentist chair as an allegory of life itself so he needs stick it out.
  • cave: The allegory of the cave is supposed to explain this.
  • history: What follows is an allegory of a dangerous political history of the first half of the twentieth century.
  • world: I believe the Village being an allegory of the world at the time of filming also sought a strong leader.

Preposition: for

  • life: Q. To that extent, are his experiences an allegory for life?
allegory Quotes

But I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers.

—Tolkien,J(ohn) R(onald) R(euel)

Why, ever since Adam, who has got to the meaning of this great allegoryöthe world? Then we pygmies must be content to have our paper allegories but ill comprehended.

—Melville, Herman