simile

1. a word or phrase that compares something to something else, using the words like or as, for example a face like a mask or as white as snow; the use of such words and phrases
   • Stopping her from going was like trying to catch a bullet with a pair of tweasers, impossible.
     William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice
   • Learning to drive was like a deer learning how to walk for the first time. Stumbling until you get it right.
     William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice
2. A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two things. Similes differ from metaphors by highlighting the similarities between two things using comparison words such as "like", "as", "so", or "than", while metaphors create an implicit comparison (i.e. saying something "is" something else). This distinction is evident in the etymology of the words: simile derives from the Latin word similis ("similar, like"), while metaphor derives from the Greek word metapherein ("to transfer"). As in the case of metaphors, the thing that is being compared is called the tenor, and the thing it is being compared to is called the vehicle.
   • Baldrick I have a plan, sir.
     Blackadder Really, Baldrick? A cunning and subtle one?
     Baldrick Yes, sir.
     Blackadder As cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University?
     Edmund Blackadder - The sitcom "Blackadder" 2016