analogical

American  

[an-l-oj-i-kuhl] / ˌæn lˈɒdʒ ɪ kəl /

Also analogic

adjective

1. based on, involving, or expressing an analogy.

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Other Word Forms

• analogically adverb
• analogicalness noun
• nonanalogic adjective
• nonanalogical adjective
• nonanalogically adverb
• nonanalogicalness noun
• unanalogical adjective
• unanalogically adverb

Etymology

Origin of analogical

First recorded in 1560–70; from Latin analogic(us) (from Greek analogikós; analogy, -ic ) + -al ¹

Explanation

Something analogical compares two different things. An analogical expression might be "My house is so cold it's like a refrigerator in here." An analogy is a comparison — usually either a metaphor or a simile — that helps to explain something or make it clearer. Analogical things use analogies or refer to them. A comparison like "You are quiet as a mouse" or "My brother was a pig at dinner" is analogical. The Greek root is analogos, "proportionate."

Example Sentences

Logical argumentation is evident in these, and as time progressed, texts became more focused on argument, particularly those relying on analogical reasoning, or the use of analogies.

From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022

In fact, nobody in this cold, hard-core, genre-blurring novel can be understood except in analogical terms; even a murderer finds himself bewildered to be “someone who DID things. Someone like the people in detective novels.”

From New York Times • Oct. 26, 2018

By contrast “Managers who pay attention to their own analogical thinking will make better strategic decisions and fewer mistakes.”

From Time • Dec. 7, 2015

Domingos divides the field into five contemporary machine-learning paradigms—evolutionary algorithms, connectionism and neural networks, symbolism, Bayes networks, and analogical reasoning—which he imagines being unified in one future “master algorithm” capable of learning nearly anything.

From Slate • Sep. 25, 2015

Clearly, if much of our knowledge is analogical in origin it cannot be certain, and the real causes of events may always escape us.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton