/euh nal"euh jee/ , n. , pl. analogies .
1. a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based: the analogy between the heart and a pump.
2. similarity or comparability: I see no analogy between your problem and mine.
3. Biol. an analogous relationship.
4. Ling.
a. the process by which words or phrases are created or re-formed according to existing patterns in the language, as when shoon was re-formed as shoes, when -ize is added to nouns like winter to form verbs, or when a child says foots for feet.
b. a form resulting from such a process.
5. Logic. a form of reasoning in which one thing is inferred to be similar to another thing in a certain respect, on the basis of the known similarity between the things in other respects.
[ 1530-40; analogia 3 ]
Syn. 1. comparison, likeness, resemblance, similitude, affinity. 2. correspondence.