Wiktionary

catachresis

English edit

 
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Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

Learned borrowing from Latin catachrēsis, borrowed from Ancient Greek κατάχρησις (katákhrēsis, “misuse (of a word)”).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

catachresis (countable and uncountable, plural catachreses)

  1. A misuse of a word; an application of a term to something which it does not properly denote.[1]
    1. (often, especially) Such a misuse involving some similarity of sound between the misused word and the appropriate word.
  2. (rhetoric) A misapplication or overextension of figurative or analogical description; a wrongly applied metaphor or trope.[1]
    • 1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, →OCLC, page 14:
      A Catachresis terms abused receives,
      And epithets and attributes improper gives.

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

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. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 “‖catachresis” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]
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