liken (someone or something) to (someone or something else)
To represent or describe someone or something as being very similar to someone or something else. People keep likening him to Ronald Reagan for his particular political positions. I was really able to visualize it better after my teacher likened the chemical reaction to a football play.
liken someone or something to someone or something
to compare someone or something to someone or something, concentrating on the similarities. He is strange. I can only liken him to an eccentric millionaire. The poet likened James to a living statue of Mercury.