War as metaphor

A metaphor is when you explain one thing using the same words as something else to give it meaning. War as a metaphor means that we use the same words, ideas and symbols associated with war to explain something else. For example, we might say that two countries competing in an athletic contest are 'at war' because it's a way to show how serious their competition is. We might also use war to talk about a disagreement between two people, or to describe a difficult situation that we have to face. In all these cases, war is a metaphor because it's not actually a war, but we are using the same ideas and language associated with war to explain the situation.