How to use analogue? What are its adjectival and adverbial forms?

Question

Can we, for example, define good analogously?" Is there an analogue definition of good?

I'm using the word good as an example; the word could just as easily be virtuous, intelligent, evil, bad, and so on.

Answer 1

An analog/analogue is (or can be) a point of comparison within an analogy.

For example, if I were to explain the way a bureaucracy goes about passing the buck instead of dealing with a problem head-on, I might use an example of how I have experienced the "pass the buck" phenomenon in my past.

I could also use an analogy, which is a comparison between two unlike situations. The comparison could comprise one point of comparison or many points of comparison.

An example and an analogy can function quite similarly. If I accuse you of being rash, for example, and you challenge my accusation by saying,

"Oh yeah, when was I ever rash? What do you mean I'm rash?"

I might then give you an example of when you were rash by saying,

"Do you remember when you made that accounting error five minutes before quitting time last Thursday, and I had to spend an hour's overtime fixing your error simply because you were unwilling to work five minutes of overtime? That's what I mean!"

Here, the example probably imitates (or is like) the current instance of rashness. They are similar enough to equate them under the same category of rashness, at least in my opinion.

An analogy, on the other hand, takes an example a step further. Its analogues are points of comparison which are similar enough to make the comparison a fair and accurate one.

If, for example(!), I use an Aesop's fable ("The Tortoise and the Hare") to illustrate the fallacy that a quick and dirty (i.e., rash) approach is not always the best way to do things, the fable serves as an analogy.

• the rabbit is the rash employee above who assumes that speed is all important

• the tortoise is the careful person, above, who takes his or her time and dots each I and crosses each T

• the rabbit prefers quitting work at precisely 5:00 so s/he can partayyyy

• the tortoise is the careful person who is willing to do what is necessary to get the job done right, regardless of the clock

• the rash person is more likely to lose the race by getting fired, for example

• the careful person is more likely to win the race by getting promoted, for example

All this to say, yes, you can define a word such as good, analogously. I prefer to use the word analogically as my adverb of choice. As for an adjective, I'd use the term analogue, just as you used it in your question. Here's how I might introduce an analogy:

"Allow me, if you will, to define the word good analogically [i.e., by giving an analogue, or operational, definition of good]: There's an old Aesop's fable in which . . .."

I would then go on to elaborate on the various analogs drawn from the fable.

Answer 2

The adjectival and adverbial forms of analogue are, conveniently, analogue. The comparable forms for analogy are less clear, but analogical and analagous(ly) are both used.