An unqualified metaphor does not add material elaborating either the source image or the target referent. The basic image stands without the qualifying devices of reinforcement or abstraction.
“I saw a lion on the battlefield,” in a context clearly referring to a brave man, may illustrate this kind when no animal-specific or human-specific embellishment is added.
Muṭlaqah does not mean that the metaphor lacks a contextual indicator. All metaphor requires such an indication. The distinction concerns supplementary expressions, not the existence of a qarīnah.