How to Use allegorical in a Sentence

allegorical

adjective
  • Not to freak anyone out, but these names sound allegorical as hell.
    — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 24 May 2021
  • For good measure, there were also an allegorical fox and guinea pig and a hot priest.
    — Tom Gliatto, PEOPLE.com, 23 Dec. 2019
  • Is an allegorical horror flick that builds up to a wild final scene.
    — Hanna Lustig, Teen Vogue, 31 Oct. 2019
  • The set-up is deft but broad, which is also the best way to describe this loosely allegorical film.
    — Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Apr. 2023
  • First of all, all stories worth their salt are allegorical in one way or another.
    — WIRED, 28 Aug. 2022
  • Maybe that’s more blessing than curse in our age of baldly allegorical horror movies.
    — A.a. Dowd, Rolling Stone, 17 Apr. 2025
  • The movie is a classic coming of-age story, with an allegorical twist.
    — Vanessa Hua, CNN, 16 Mar. 2022
  • Parts of the book made sense on an allegorical level, but not on a literal level.
    — Literary Hub, 18 June 2026
  • Not that this was Tolkien’s approach; his style is more mythic than allegorical.
    — Caitlin Penzeymoog, Vox, 7 Oct. 2024
  • The room houses a mix of allegorical works and some that feel more visceral, like sculptures.
    — Hadley Mendelsohn, House Beautiful, 6 Dec. 2019
  • Her art is often described as allegorical, though in most of these images the meanings and symbols get tied up in knots.
    — The New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2023
  • Look at the most famous allegorical artworks of the time on the subject of liberty, and there’s the hat.
    — Lily Rothman, Time, 1 Feb. 2018
  • In the more than 2,00 years since, its allegorical powers have only grown stronger.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 19 Dec. 2020
  • Told in allegorical language, Jesus is locked in a cosmic battle with the forces of evil.
    — Russell Contreras, Axios, 12 Dec. 2024
  • The over-all effect is of allegorical painting, but these are allegories to which Rauch has thrown away the key.
    — Thomas Meaney, The New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2021
  • Brueghel painted the scenes for the pieces, while Rubens painted the allegorical figures.
    — Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Apr. 2022
  • One of the first woke allegorical uses of sci-fi and still, with the exception of some recent films, probably the best.
    — Josh St. Clair, Men's Health, 18 Aug. 2022
  • Maybe this skin-crawler is a creepy, allegorical drama about delusional paranoia.
    — Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 9 Jan. 2026
  • The dancing bears therefore serve as an allegorical leitmotif in the book’s second half.
    — Timothy Garton Ash, Foreign Affairs, 11 Dec. 2018
  • One tells allegorical stories about her horses Ruth and Cheryl.
    — Lindsey Bahr, Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 2023
  • The effect is to heighten events, to transcend history in favor of a more allegorical realm.
    — David L. Ulin, latimes.com, 8 Sep. 2017
  • An allegorical tale of a young prince who descends to Earth and encounters a marooned airman.
    — The Week Us, theweek, 28 May 2024
  • Director Neill Blomkamp is best known for his gritty, allegorical sci-fi films.
    — Issy Van Der Velde, Rolling Stone, 19 Oct. 2024
  • The vulnerable souls in this increasingly allegorical play are up for grabs as the forces of good and evil battle for control over them.
    — Charles McNultytheater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 3 Dec. 2022
  • By now, the story of the ‘Nova Knicks is almost allegorical.
    — Mike Vorkunov, New York Times, 10 June 2026
  • Drivas wants visitors to slow down and let the allegorical meaning of the experiment sink in.
    — Colleen Barry, chicagotribune.com, 12 May 2017
  • There’s the allegorical tale of a boy whose family is in the witness protection program and who keeps blowing their cover.
    — oregonlive, 7 Nov. 2021
  • The film focuses on those left most vulnerable by this process, and finds them in the darkness of a space that sets off the story’s allegorical layer.
    — Davide Abbatescianni, Variety, 11 Nov. 2021
  • For me, this solo turned the tide of the evening, which until then had consisted of a group opener and a gaggle of solos and duets of a more allegorical nature.
    — Lauren Warnecke, chicagotribune.com, 15 June 2019
  • Shame’s role in the first act as an equal point in the allegorical triangle surrounding the Lover might be true to the original poem.
    — Zachary Woolfe, New York Times, 20 Feb. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'allegorical.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: