Aim: This study aims to determine the metaphors developed by nurses working in hospitals in Turkey regarding the COVID-19 pandemic during the pandemic process.

Methods: This research was designed as descriptive and was carried out with metaphorical (collecting data through metaphors) data analysis within the framework of qualitative research tradition. In the study conducted with 144 nurses, nurses were asked to describe COVID-19, the prominent emotion they felt when they were first assigned to care in the COVID 19 clinic, the strongest emotion they felt while caring for COVID + patients, the society's point of view during the time they were cared for COVID + patients with a metaphor, and they were asked to indicate the reason for the metaphor they used.

Results: Nurses have produced 75 metaphors for Covid 19. Nurses produced 68 metaphors to describe the prominent emotion felt when assigned to care in the Covid 19 clinic. Categories related to this emotion were determined as helplessness, uncertainty, anxiety/fear, complexity, sadness, duty and responsibility, and heroism. Nurses produced 71 metaphors to describe the strongest emotion felt by nurses while caring for Covid + patients. Three categories were created for this emotion: honorific, abrasive, and complex. The metaphors produced by nurses to describe the society's point of view were classified into three categories: positive, negative, both positive and negative. A total of 47 metaphors related to this emotion were produced.

Conclusions: While emphasizing the importance of health and family in the pandemic process, the professional responsibility of nurses in this process has prevented the negative effects of the pandemic.