əˈnaləjē, -ji noun
( -es )
Etymology: probably from Greek analogia mathematical proportion, correspondence, from analogos proportionate + -ia -y
1.
a. : mathematical proportion or ratios (as in a statement of the form a × b = c × d where the values of a, b, and c are given, so that d may be calculated)
b. : a proposition or a statement that embodies such an analogy
2.
a. : similarity of ratios or of properties
b. : inference that if two or more things agree with one another in one or more respects they will prob. agree in yet other respects
scholasticism distinguished between analogies of proportionality, analogies by attribution, and analogies by metaphor
3. : resemblance in some particulars between things otherwise unlike : similarity , correspondence , parallelism
mathematicians have … appealed to the arts in order to find some analogy to their own work — Havelock Ellis
enameled bowls … show analogies … with late twelfth century English illumination — O. Elfrida Saunders
4.
a. : analogue
b. : a figure of speech embodying an extended or elaborate comparison between two things or situations : similitude
5. : correspondence between the members of pairs or sets of linguistic forms that is taken as a basis for the creation of another form (as reindeers, plural of reindeer, created on the basis of such pairs as bear, bears or dog, dogs; cows, plural of cow, replacing earlier kine and kye, on the basis of such pairs as bough, boughs; glided, past tense of glide, replacing earlier glode and glid, on the basis of such pairs as guide, guided; a deck of cigarettes, standing in the same synonymous relationship to a pack of cigarettes as a deck of cards does to a pack of cards )
6.
[French analogie, from Greek analogia ]
: correspondence in function between organs or parts of different structure and origin — distinguished from homology