Something which is representative or symbolic of something else
“My life is a train wreck” said Astrid. She often used dramatic metaphors like this.
Metaphor is a complicate part of using language. Metaphor comes from the Greek word metapherein, which means to transfer, or to move something somewhere else. Today we still use the idea of moving in thinking about metaphor, moving a word or phrase (also called a figure of speech) from one place to another. In the example above, Astrid takes the phrase train wreck and moves it away from the context of trains and towards the context of her personal life. Her life is not literally a train wreck, but by moving the phrase train wreck into the context of her personal life, she is creating a metaphor. If you don’t understand this, don’t worry, it is very hard. Ask other people to help you understand what a metaphor is.
Listen to the example sentence: