Idiomatic, Literal and Figurative Communication

Idiomatic, literal and figurative describe aspects of how language is used and understood. They are not three mutually exclusive kinds of sentence. An idiom can be figurative, and the same wording can have a literal or an idiomatic reading in different situations.

These distinctions are relevant to Metaphors of Movement because familiar expressions can carry details of position, movement and relationship that a broad paraphrase may lose.

Idiomatic Communication

An idiom is an established expression whose meaning as a whole cannot always be worked out from the ordinary meanings of its individual words. For example, "spill the beans" commonly means to reveal a secret. The same words could also describe someone literally spilling beans.

Idioms vary in how readily their imagery suggests their conventional meaning. "Under pressure" is relatively easy to connect with an experience of demands or constraint; the connection between "kick the bucket" and dying is less apparent to someone unfamiliar with the expression. Familiarity, context and shared language all contribute to understanding.

Examples include:

• "Break a leg": a conventional way of wishing a performer good luck.
• "Bite the bullet": face something difficult or unpleasant.
• "Cost an arm and a leg": be very expensive.
• "Throw in the towel": give up or concede defeat.

An expression familiar in one community may be unfamiliar in another. A word-for-word translation does not necessarily preserve its idiomatic meaning.

Grammatical forms

Idiomatic expressions take different grammatical forms. The following groupings describe their structure or use; they overlap and are not a single, exhaustive classification.

Phrasal idioms

Expressions such as "spill the beans", "bite the bullet" and "break a leg" are phrases whose conventional meanings are understood as a whole.

Predicate idioms

Expressions such as "be on cloud nine" or "be over the moon" can form the predicate of a sentence, describing a subject as very happy. This describes their grammatical function, rather than a separate kind of metaphor.

Prepositional idioms

Expressions such as "on edge", "in a nutshell" and "in over your head" use prepositional structures. Depending on context, they convey nervousness, a concise account or involvement in something beyond one's present ability to manage.

Adjective idioms

Expressions such as "green with envy" and "black and blue" can describe a person's state. "White as a ghost" is also a conventional simile. These examples show how grammatical and figurative descriptions can overlap.

Particle idioms

Verb-particle combinations, often discussed as phrasal verbs, include "give in", "hold on" and "turn up". They can mean surrender, wait or arrive, respectively. Their meanings depend on context: "hold on" can also mean to maintain a physical grip. Not every verb-particle combination is idiomatic in every use.

Literal Communication

A literal use of language describes something without requiring a metaphorical comparison. If a person says "The table is made of wood", they may be describing the table's material directly. If they say "She was wearing a red dress", they may be describing the colour of her clothing.

Literal language still depends on context. "She is outside" leaves questions about who is being discussed and what she is outside. Being literal does not make a statement complete, unambiguous or factually correct.

An expression can also have both literal and figurative uses. "He is carrying a heavy load" might describe physical work, responsibilities, or both. The wording alone does not settle which meaning is intended.

Figurative Communication

Figurative language includes metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole and other uses in which meaning extends beyond a straightforward literal reading. It occurs in ordinary conversation as well as in literature.

• "Her smile lit up the room": a metaphor, unless actual illumination is meant.
• "He has a heart of gold": a conventional metaphor for kindness or generosity.
• "I'm starving!": hyperbole when used to exaggerate ordinary hunger; it can also be a literal statement.
• "The weight of the world was on his shoulders": a metaphor for a heavy burden of concern or responsibility.
• "Her laughter was like music": a simile, making a comparison explicit through "like".

A simile makes an explicit comparison; a metaphor presents one thing in terms of another. Both can become familiar expressions through repeated use.

Relevance to Metaphors of Movement

In MoM, attention to language includes attention to the particular experience being described. Expressions with similar general meanings may contain different images and relationships. Being "under pressure" and "carrying a burden", for example, should not automatically be treated as identical descriptions merely because both might be paraphrased as stress.

The wiki's idiom collections support familiarity with language and its uses. A dictionary definition, a literary association or a loosely similar expression cannot supply all the details of an individual's experience. Context and the person's own description remain important.

See also Metaphor Categories and Linguistic References.

Detailed studies

• Metaphor and Idioms: Motivation, Meaning and Use - distinguishes an established meaning from its imagery, history and use in context.
• Mixed Metaphors and Coherence - compares compatible combinations, awkward mixtures and creative extensions.
• The Conduit Metaphor of Communication - examines how descriptions of communication can hide the work of interpretation.

Further reading

• Cambridge Dictionary: idiom.
• George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By.

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