analogise

Analogise is a verb meaning to draw an analogy between two things, or to explain or illuminate one thing by comparing it with another. It involves reasoning by similarity and is often used to clarify complex ideas by relating them to more familiar ones. The act can also be described as likening or comparing for the sake of explanation.

Spelling and usage notes: the form analogise is the British English spelling; the American English variant is analogize. Related forms include analogue (noun or adjective in British English; American uses analog). The adverbial form is analogously, and the related adjective analogous describes a similarity or parallel between two things.

Etymology and context: analogise derives from analogy, which comes from Greek analogia, from ana- 'up, again' and logos 'ratio, proportion, account.' In scholarly and rhetorical writing, to analogise is common when the author wants to make a concept more comprehensible by mapping it onto a known domain. It is not the same as analyze or synthesize; analogising focuses on similarity and relational reasoning rather than decomposition or evaluation.

Examples of use include explaining a complex process by analogising it to a familiar mechanism, such as likening a neural network to a simplified feed-forward mechanism, or arguing by analogy to support a claim. In contemporary contexts, both analogise and analogize appear in academic texts, journalism, and debate, with preference usually determined by regional spelling conventions.