catachresis
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- catechresis, katachresis (both 17th century; obsolete)[1]
Etymology[edit]
Learned borrowing from Latin catachrēsis, borrowed from Ancient Greek κατάχρησις (katákhrēsis, “misuse (of a word)”).
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌkæt.əˈkɹiː.sɪs/
Noun[edit]
catachresis (countable and uncountable, plural catachreses)
- A misuse of a word; an application of a term to something which it does not properly denote.[1]
- (often, especially) Such a misuse involving some similarity of sound between the misused word and the appropriate word.
- (rhetoric) A misapplication or overextension of figurative or analogical description; a wrongly applied metaphor or trope.[1]
Synonyms[edit]
- (misuse of a word, with similar sounds): malapropism (this word is sometimes used in a way hyponymic to catachresis, in which sense only absurd and laughable catachreses are malapropisms)
- ((rhetoric) bad metaphor or trope): abusio
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
misuse of a word
(rhetoric) bad metaphor or trope
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See also[edit]
- eggcorn
- misnomer (a word that is well-known to seem to refer to something other than its referent but is nonetheless usually correct)
- phantonym (a word that invites catachrestic use because of its sound or appearance)
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 “‖catachresis” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English learned borrowings from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- en:Rhetoric
- English terms with quotations
- English terms prefixed with cata-
- en:Figures of speech