Metaphorically

In present day Japan, "alchemy" is only used metaphorically; to refer to improper means of making money by politicians or religious hucksters with no morals or shame.

"Literally" can literally mean "metaphorically". "Literal" meaning "metaphorical" is also a literal irony.

Are you speaking metaphorically?

This was said metaphorically.

This was used metaphorically.

This word was used metaphorically.

I went later than usual, after noon, to the Lulu Island pizzeria on the greyish 23rd of March of 2022. At the cashier, in front of me, were handsome Mormon proselytizers, one thick and the other thin, ordering pizza. They had ties and eyeglasses on. Facing away, at the counter, the thinner one, still waiting for his order, sat to the left of the thicker one, already devouring his pizza. From his pizza, the thicker one handed the other a pineapple chunk, which he gulped. Metaphorically, they were like Lojban and Esperanto, or Animism and Buddhism, maybe. I ate two slices and drank a diet coke at my usual northwestern corner. A woman reminiscent of my mother came in to order. Maybe, my mother was like the pagan Earth Mother Goddess for some.

Although it is not given to every boy to be one of such a merry crew as that of the Swan, or to have opportunity for adventures such as those so graphically pictured in this volume, still there are many who, possessing certain opportunities, pass through the world with their eyes metaphorically shut.

We were speaking metaphorically.

I was speaking metaphorically.