allegory
UK /ˈælɪɡəɹi/ · US /ˈæləˌɡɔɹi/ noun, verb
Forms allegories allegorying allegoried
- noun (uncountable, rhetoric) The use of symbols which may be interpreted to reveal a hidden, broader message, usually a moral or political one, about real-world issues and occurrences; also, the interpretation of such symbols.
- noun A picture, story, or other form of communication in which one or more characters, events, or places are used to reveal a hidden, broader message about real-world issues and occurrences.
- noun A character or thing which symbolically represents someone or something else; an emblem, a symbol.
- noun (mathematics, category theory) A category that retains some of the structure of the category of binary relations between sets, representing a high-level generalization of that category.
- verb (transitive) To interpret (a picture, story, or other form of communication) to reveal a hidden, broader message about real-world issues and occurrences.
- verb (transitive) To create an allegory (noun sense 2.1) from (a character, an event or situation, etc.); also, to use one or more symbols to depict (a hidden, broader message about real-world issues and occurrences).
- verb (transitive, chiefly religion) Followed by away: to treat (something) as allegorical or symbolic rather than as truth.
- verb (intransitive) To interpret an allegory.
- verb (intransitive) To create or use allegory.
Synonyms
Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English allegorie (“symbolic interpretation; symbolism; (Christianity) one of the four methods of interpreting the Bible”) + English -y (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a condition, quality, or state). Allegorie is borrowed from Anglo-Norman allegorie and Middle French allegorie (“narrative with a hidden meaning; such a meaning or its interpretation”) (modern French allégorie), and directly from their etymon Latin allēgoria (“figurative or metaphorical language, allegory; parable”) (whence Late Latin allēgoria (“allegorical interpretation of the Bible”)), from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓λληγορῐ́ᾱ (ăllēgorĭ́ā, “figurative or metaphorical language”), probably from ἀλληγορος (allēgoros, “allegorical”) (though only attested in Byzantine Greek) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Ἀλληγορος (Allēgoros) is derived from ᾰ̓́λλος (ắllos, “another; different”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“beyond; other”)) + ἠγόρ- (ēgór-, the imperfect stem of ἀγορεύω (agoreúō, “to speak in the assembly; to say, speak”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming certain inflections of adjectives); and ἀγορεύω (agoreúō) from ᾰ̓γορᾱ́ (ăgorā́, “assembly; assembly place; market place; speech”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ger- (“flock, herd; to gather”)) + -εύω (-eúō, suffix forming verbs).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A figurative sentence or discourse, in which the principal subject is described by another subject resembling it in its properties and circumstances. The real subject is thus kept out of view, and we are left to collect the intentions of the writer or speaker by the resemblance of the secondary to the primary subject.
- noun Anything which represents by suggestive resemblance; an emblem.
Etymology [L. allegoria, Gr. allégorie.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “allegory”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details