frozen metaphor

7.5

A phrase that once painted a picture but now names things directly

noun
/ˈfroʊzən ˈmɛtəfɔr/

Literature

: metáfora congelada

The term "the tip of the iceberg" has become a frozen metaphor, representing only a small part of a much larger issue.

Examples

The phrase "melting pot" is a frozen metaphor that refers to a diverse society where different cultures blend together.
"Serving time in the trenches" is so overused that I would argue it is fast becoming a frozen metaphor or an expression that has lost its evocative power through excessive use.

Academic text (1996)
When she said the "battle of ideas," it sounded like a frozen metaphor, as the phrase has been used countless times.

Synonyms

dead metaphor

vsfrozen metaphor

Literature

7.4

A phrase that once made a clear picture but now feels literal like 'leg of a table'

is accepted as a standard phrase often losing its original figurative sense

How Figurative

metaphor

Literature

263 4.2

idiom

7 4.2

frozen metaphor

Literature

7.5

literal

120 3.5

Surface Forms

frozen metaphor singular

frozen metaphors plural

Morphology

frozen + metaphor

The meaning 'a metaphor that has become fixed or conventionalized' follows directly from combining 'frozen' (fixed, immobile or unchanged) with 'metaphor' (a figure of speech). This is a straightforward compositional pattern that exists cross‑linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the intended meaning.

Etymology

Frozen metaphor is like a phrase that has turned to ice: the word frozen gives the image of something stopped and metaphor means a picture in words. That's why a frozen metaphor now feels like a plain, 'literal' expression rather than a lively picture.