dead metaphor

• Figure de style qui a perdu sa force imagée d'origine à force d'être employée, au point d'être perçue comme une expression littérale ou standard plutôt que comme une comparaison vivante.

A figure of speech that has lost its original imaginative power through overuse, so that it is now perceived as a literal or standard term rather than a vivid comparison.

1. Lifeless figurative expressionC1formal

   A metaphor that has become so common and conventional that its original figurative meaning is no longer noticed or considered.

   métaphore morte

   • The phrase 'the leg of a table' is a dead metaphor.
   • 'Time is running out' is a dead metaphor because we don't think of time as a physical runner.
   • 'The heart of the matter' is a dead metaphor; it no longer evokes a literal heart.