A figure of speech and a trope in which something is explicitly compared with something else using the word ‚alike‚aa or ‚aaas‚aa (e.g., “solving a non-linear differential equation is like trying to paddle a canoe in a force 10 gale; you end up feeling battered, but with a sense of achievement”). A metaphor is a stronger statement than a simile and something is lost in re-phrasing metaphors into similes.
See Metaphor, Metonyomy, Synecdoche, Trope