allegory

From Middle English allegorie, from Old French allegorie, from Latin allēgoria, from Ancient Greek ἀλληγορία (allēgoría), from ἄλλος (állos, “other”) + ἀγορεύω (agoreúō, “I speak”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæl.ɪˌɡɔː.ɹi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈæl.əˌɡɔɹ.i/

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allegory (countable and uncountable, plural allegories)

1. (rhetoric) A narrative in which a character, place, or event is used to deliver a broader message about real-world issues and occurrences.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter III, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 30–31:

     Ah! the Roman emperor, who desired that his slavery might be alleviated by his fetters being made of gold, was a very rational person. I have always considered it an allegory, showing the necessity of marrying for money.

   • 1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, →OCLC, page 5:

     Allegory Metaphors continues still,
     Which with new graces every sentence fill.

2. A picture, book, or other form of communication using such representation.
3. A symbolic representation which can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, usually a moral or political one.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 11:

     There were casts of the Gladiator—he whose native courage struggled against the doom which was yet welcome—a mournful allegory of honour.

4. (mathematics, category theory) A category that retains some of the structure of the category of binary relations between sets, representing a high-level generalisation of that category.

• agora
• agoraphobia
• category

• metaphor