synonyms - Is there a term or a phrase for something that is both literally and figuratively true?


For example, when I tried to do my best at dancing, I "put my best foot forward". This is literally true because in dancing I put one foot in front of the other, but it's also figuratively true because I was sincerely giving it my best effort. Is there a word or a phrase that describes something that is both literally and figuratively true?



Answer



You can add "in both senses of the [word or phrase]." For instance, "I put my best foot forward" becomes either "In both senses of the phrase, I put my best foot forward" or "I put my best foot forward, in both senses of the phrase."


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

verbs - "Baby is creeping" vs. "baby is crawling" in AmE

commas - Does this sentence have too many subjunctives?

time - English notation for hour, minutes and seconds

grammatical number - Use of lone apostrophe for plural?

etymology - Origin of "s--t eating grin"

etymology - Where does the phrase "doctored" originate?

word choice - Which is the correct spelling: “fairy” or “faerie”?