like a porcelain doll
1
8.2
- idiom
- Informal
:
como una muñeca de porcelana
- look like a porcelain doll
Examples
-
Rosie's face is lovely, clear, like a porcelain doll's head with two circles of color to mark the cheeks, glass-green eyes brushed by long lashes.
Fiction book (1993) -
Her delicate features and flawless skin made her look like a porcelain doll.
-
The little girl twirled in her dress, looking just like a porcelain doll.
-
With her pale complexion and bright eyes, she resembled a porcelain doll.
Synonyms
Very rare and valuable for advice or ideas
Antonyms
How Delicate
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward simile: a B1 learner who knows 'like', 'porcelain', and 'doll' can infer that the person is being compared to a delicate, fragile, and pretty object. The meaning is directly built from the constituents (appearance + porcelain's fragility/beauty), a compositional pattern common across languages, so it is immediately understandable.
Etymology
Like a porcelain doll comes from the image of a small porcelain doll with smooth, pale skin and very delicate parts. Because these dolls look perfect but can crack or break easily, saying someone is like a porcelain doll means they seem 'delicate', 'fragile', and 'beautiful'.