counteranalogy · noun — an analogy that refutes another, earlier analogy. It carries an Arena rating of 1379, earned across 11 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, counteranalogy ranks #543 of 17,173 for Most Incisive Words, #1,256 of 17,163 for The Improbable, #6,314 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #8,206 of 17,167 for Most Malleable Words.
Why “counteranalogy” is a great word
A rival illustrative comparison constructed not to clarify but to dismantle a prior analogy, using the very method of analogical reasoning as its weapon. Its etymology is transparent: from the English prefix counter- (expressing opposition or retaliation) + analogy (from Latin analogia, from Greek analogia 'proportion, correspondence'). Unlike a 'disanalogy,' which merely points out a flaw in a comparison's fabric, or a general 'rebuttal,' which can deploy any logical tool, a counteranalogy is a complete, opposing structure built to collapse the first. It is the chess move that mirrors an opponent's opening to force a checkmate; the theologian answering the parable of the watchmaker with the parable of the blind watchmaker; the weary parent, faced with the claim that rules are like prison walls, retorting that they are, in fact, like the banks of a river, giving the current somewhere to go. It is the quiet, subversive art of fighting a story with a better story.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From counter- + analogy.
noun
- An analogy that refutes another, earlier analogy.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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