هُوَ اللَّفْظُ الْمُسْتَعْمَلُ فِي غَيْرِ مَا وُضِعَ لَهُ لِعَلَاقَةٍ، مَعَ قَرِينَةٍ مَانِعَةٍ مِنْ إِرَادَةِ الْمَعْنَى السَّابِقِ
Majaz is a word used outside its originally assigned sense because of a relation, accompanied by an indicator that prevents the earlier literal meaning from being intended.
The four elements are the word, its assigned meaning, the relationship ('alaqa) between literal and transferred senses, and the preventing contextual indicator (qarina). An unusual expression is not automatically figurative if these conditions are absent.