/ English Dictionary |
ANALOGOUS
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Corresponding in function but not in evolutionary origin
Example:
the wings of a bee and those of a hummingbird are analogous
Classified under:
Domain category:
biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)
Antonym:
heterologous (not corresponding in structure or evolutionary origin)
homologous (having the same evolutionary origin but not necessarily the same function)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Similar or equivalent in some respects though otherwise dissimilar
Example:
salmon roe is marketed as analogous to caviar
Synonyms:
analogous; correspondent
Classified under:
Similar:
similar (marked by correspondence or resemblance)
Derivation:
analogy (drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity in some respect)
analogy (an inference that if things agree in some respects they probably agree in others)
Context examples:
It seems her career there was very honourable: from a pupil, she became a teacher, like yourself—really it strikes me there are parallel points in her history and yours—she left it to be a governess: there, again, your fates were analogous; she undertook the education of the ward of a certain Mr. Rochester.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Then, as the moments went by, it came to me that the situation was analogous to the one in which I had approached the long-maned bull, my intention of clubbing obscured by fear until it became a desire to make him run.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)