A simile that doesn't use "like" or "as."

And when you find it it tends to be a metaphor.

Okay I have a question......how can the sentence be a simile without like or as???
How can you tell because this is very confusing.
Please give me an answer.

"The way" functions like "like" or "as." "The way" functions the same way as "like" or "as". Similes use "like" or "as" or "the way." Of course the school definition is too narrow. The key distinction between simile and metaphor are the helping hand words of the simile, and because English is English of course we have synonyms for "like" and "as."

There was a definition of "simile" used earlier that was too constrictive. Many dictionaries explain that "like" or "as" are used often or usually, but not that they are used exclusively in the metaphor comparing two unlike things. So, using "the way" would qualify the expression as a simile.

In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck's initial description of Lennie states: '...he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws.' He could have written 'like the way a bear drags its paws', but this would be clumsy on the ear. I think Steinbeck nailed it.

Ah. That's your first post. No wonder I didn't recognize your username. I'm looking forward to more.

Excellent!

Did we just agree about something?

Heh!

Thanks. Hope it helps.

I am writing a noir novel atm and i read once a famous author said using the word 'like' was not very creative and lazy. So I reflected on my book and held that law steadfast, sure I still use the word ' like' in many places but as the quote said, it shows a lack of imagination.
She flew like a bird.
Her wings opened as those of a bird, and she flew.

It isn't a simile, it's a metaphor, but another type of figure of speech

"she walked with the grace of a swan" that is simile without using"like" or "as"

Never saw a swan walk, did'ja?

Each of the following is a simile. None of them use "like" or "as."
Not a single one is a metaphor. An explanation follows the examples.
-- He's dumber than a bag of hammers.
-- My cell phone was wetter than a fish.
-- Autumn leaves will fade, and so will I.
-- The mountains will last forever, and so will this PD.
-- The sweat on the forehead of the student giving his oral presentation resembled that of a heavyweight boxer in the 15th round.

(I wrote this today and posted it on my Facebook page:)

I discovered today that many English teachers in the U.S. specifically define similes as comparisons between two different things using "like" or "as," to the exclusion of any other words of comparison. Uh-oh. That is wrong. "Like" and "as" cover most of the ground, but not all of it.

This issue came up in AP class, and the discussion sent me to the internet. I found MANY web sites and contributors to online discussions who say that if the comparison does not employ "like" or "as," then it is by definition not a simile. No, no, no, no, no, no! They are wrong!

A simile is an EXPLICITLY STATED comparison between two essentially unlike things. It is often defined in comparison with a metaphor, which is an IMPLIED comparison between two essentially unlike things.
The simile may use a comparison word (not only "like" and "as," but also "than," "rather than," "so" and similar words), but it may not even do that! I see that Wikipedia added "resemble" and such verbs of comparison. Right on. But the simile may not even do THAT! It's a simile if the comparison is explicitly stated.

(Some actually expand the definition of metaphor to include all such comparisons, implied or explicit. Their metaphor definition includes similes. Most distinguish the two.)

I teach the middle school students "like" or "as," and tell them that there are other "simile words," but "like" and "as" are enough for now. I show high school students examples of other simile words (many have been falsely indoctrinated) one time and leave it at that.

My AP students told me this morning that when they were in middle school, the head of our English department taught them the same way I do. I'm not surprised to find that she is 100% correct on this point; she is a fantastic teacher.

Thank you for reading this explanation.

Thank you for your post, and the excellent example. I just posted five more examples in mine. Hopefully they will post my post. Once one understands how a figure can be a simile without using "like" or "as," one can come up with hundreds of examples.