catachresis
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English
Alternative forms
- catechresis, katachresis (both 17th century; obsolete)
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin catachrēsis, borrowed from Ancient Greek κατάχρησις (katákhrēsis, “misuse (of a word)”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌkæt.əˈkɹiː.sɪs/
Noun
catachresis (countable and uncountable, plural catachreses)
- A misuse of a word; an application of a term to something which it does not properly denote.
- (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.
Synonyms
- (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
Translations
misuse of a word
(rhetoric) bad metaphor or trope
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See also
- 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
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 “‖catachresis” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary