likening
Likening is the act of making a likeness or comparison between two or more things, typically in order to highlight a similarity. As a noun, likening refers to the process; as a present participle, it appears in phrases such as “likening X to Y.” The word derives from liken, related to like, and has long been used to discuss how one thing is made to resemble another.
In rhetoric and literature, likening is a broad term for techniques that reveal or emphasize similarities between
Examples of likening include describing a team as a well‑oiled machine, or a difficult journey as a
Related concepts include analogy, metaphor, and simile. See also rhetorical devices and figurative language.