as in dead metaphor
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Recent Examples of code word
The guidelines had the opposite effect, encouraging streamers to lead with the code words they’d been barred from: a push against standards meant to actually censor players.
—
Megan Farokhmanesh, WIRED, 20 Dec. 2024
The 22-year-old posted a picture on social media with a meeting room white board in the background and, on the white board, code words for plays used by the Lions were included in the photo.
—Andy Scholes, CNN, 5 Dec. 2024
Merchant allegedly used fabric weights as code words for different parts of the crime.
—Anders Hagstrom, Fox News, 11 Sep. 2024
As Jamie divulges the details of the enterprise, including the special code words staff must use in the presence of The Butcher, Cooper gets increasingly nervous.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for code word 
Megan Farokhmanesh, WIRED, 20 Dec. 2024
The 22-year-old posted a picture on social media with a meeting room white board in the background and, on the white board, code words for plays used by the Lions were included in the photo.
—Andy Scholes, CNN, 5 Dec. 2024
Merchant allegedly used fabric weights as code words for different parts of the crime.
—Anders Hagstrom, Fox News, 11 Sep. 2024
As Jamie divulges the details of the enterprise, including the special code words staff must use in the presence of The Butcher, Cooper gets increasingly nervous.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for code word
Recent Examples of Synonyms for code word
Noun
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Many of our emotion terms are references to states of the body—we’re downcast, bent out of shape, head over heels, shaken up, down in the mouth—which have slowly rigidified into dead metaphor.—
Nikhil Krishnan,
The New Yorker,
1 Aug. 2022
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This shift reminds us that dead metaphors aren’t always terminally dead.—
Rob Nixon,
Smithsonian,
23 Mar. 2018
Noun
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Use simple analogies and relatable examples, and avoid jargon or complicated terms.—
Bernard Marr,
Forbes,
18 Feb. 2025
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Forgive one more analogy to music: Wagner has some of this power, too (in fact, a lot of it).—
Jay Nordlinger,
National Review,
31 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Fight analyst Dan Hardy used an interesting simile to explain the key difference between the two title fighters in Saturday night's main event at UFC 312 as middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis puts his title on the line against former champion Sean Strickland.—
Thomas G. Moukawsher,
Newsweek,
5 Feb. 2025
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This is what Thadeus loves: a test of his store of poetic similes, even if, these days, his poetry-writing is notional.—
Han Ong,
The New Yorker,
12 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Finally, liquid bat guano and liquid earthworm castings (guano and castings are euphemisms for excrement) are also utilized for foliar fertilization.—
Joshua Siskin,
Orange County Register,
14 Feb. 2025
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When health officials confirm bird flu in a flock, the birds are culled — a euphemism for killed — in order to stop the spread of the virus.—
Bruce Gil,
Quartz,
12 Feb. 2025
Noun
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For Giedi Prime, septic tanks became the visual metaphor associated with the Hardonnen and their morals of a sewer.—
Bill Desowitz,
IndieWire,
17 Feb. 2025
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Fueled by headlines, and theoretical metaphors attributed to the film ahead of release, there was an overwhelming desire to see Sam Wilson versus President Ross/Red Hulk serve as a direct allegory for liberal America’s fight against President Trump.—
Richard Newby,
The Hollywood Reporter,
16 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Here, instead, she’s swayed by a dead Diana softly squeezing her hand and kindly hinting — the dead Diana is an ace at tactful circumlocution — that now is the time to show a mourning nation some emotion.—
Tom Gliatto,
Peoplemag,
16 Nov. 2023
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By condensing Balzac’s opus to a few paragraphs, Barthelme was having a laugh not just at his predecessor’s genteel circumlocution—his tendency to describe buildings and manufacturing procedures and family trees in lavish detail—but also at the conventions of novelistic mimesis itself.—
Giles Harvey,
The New York Review of Books,
23 Apr. 2020
Thesaurus Entries Near code word
Cite this Entry
“Code word.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/code%20word. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
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