What does likening mean?
A likening is a comparison in which one person, object, experience, or idea is represented as resembling another. The word suggests more than a simple statement of similarity: it often implies an imaginative or figurative connection, as in comparing a city to a musical instrument or memory to a house. In everyday use, the phrase “a likening of X to Y” can describe any deliberate act of comparison, while in literary contexts it usually has a more aesthetic or interpretive force. The related verb “liken” means “to compare or represent as similar,” and “likening” is the corresponding noun for that act. Because a likening transfers features from one thing to another, it can clarify an unfamiliar idea while also suggesting that the comparison is selective rather than complete. It is therefore especially useful in criticism, description, teaching, and figurative speech.
nounThe act of comparing one thing with another, especially by saying that one resembles or can be likened to the other. A likening may be an explicit comparison or an implied one.
- The act or process of comparing or equating two things.
- A figurative comparison in which one thing is said to resemble another.
"Her likening of the city to a vast musical instrument was both memorable and apt."
"The reviewer's likening of the novel to a long journey aptly captured its slow, unfolding structure."
"The artist's likening of memory to a house with many rooms is a recurring theme in the series."
Plural form is occasionally used for distinct instances or examples of comparison, though the word is often used as a mass noun.
"The lecture included several memorable likenings of complex ideas."
A likening is a bridge between unlike things: it lets us understand one experience by borrowing the shape of another.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does likening come from?
The word “likening” comes from the verb “liken,” which means “to compare or regard as like.” “Liken” developed from the Old English word “līc,” meaning “form, shape, or appearance,” with the addition of the verbal suffix -en. The same broad root underlies related forms such as “like,” “likeness,” “likelihood,” and “likely,” although their exact historical developments differ. The modern noun “likening” is formed directly from the gerund or verbal noun of “liken.”
Related word forms
How likening is actually used
Usually formal or literary, though it is also used in ordinary descriptive writing. It often suggests a deliberate comparison, and the comparison may be vivid, suggestive, or deliberately indirect.