phrase

American  

[freyz] / freɪz /

noun

• phrases
  plural

1. Grammar.

   1. a sequence of two or more words arranged in a grammatical construction and acting as a unit in a sentence.

   2. (in English) a sequence of two or more words that does not contain a finite verb and its subject or that does not consist of clause elements such as subject, verb, object, or complement, as a preposition and a noun or pronoun, an adjective and noun, or an adverb and verb.

2. Rhetoric. a word or group of spoken words that the mind focuses on momentarily as a meaningful unit and is preceded and followed by pauses.

3. a characteristic, current, or proverbial expression.

   a hackneyed phrase.

4. Music. a division of a composition, commonly a passage of four or eight measures, forming part of a period.

5. a way of speaking, mode of expression, or phraseology.

   a book written in the phrase of the West.

6. a brief utterance or remark.

   In a phrase, he's a dishonest man.

7. Dance. a sequence of motions making up part of a choreographic pattern.

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verb (used with object)

• phrases,
  present (3rd person singular)
• phrased,
  past participle,  past
• phrasing
  present participle

1. to express or word in a particular way.

   to phrase an apology well.

2. to express in words.

   to phrase one's thoughts.

3. Music.

   1. to mark off or bring out the phrases of (a piece), especially in execution.

   2. to group (notes) into a phrase.

verb (used without object)

• phrases,
  present (3rd person singular)
• phrased,
  past participle,  past
• phrasing
  present participle

1. Music. to perform a passage or piece with proper phrasing.

phrase British  

/ freɪz /

noun

1. a group of words forming an immediate syntactic constituent of a clause Compare clause noun phrase verb phrase

2. a particular expression, esp an original one

3. music a small group of notes forming a coherent unit of melody

4. (in choreography) a short sequence of dance movements

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verb

1. music to divide (a melodic line, part, etc) into musical phrases, esp in performance

2. to express orally or in a phrase

phrase Cultural  

1. A group of grammatically connected words within a sentence: “One council member left in a huff”; “She got much satisfaction from planting daffodil bulbs.” Unlike clauses, phrases do not have both a subject and a predicate.

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Synonym Usage

Phrase, expression, idiom, locution all refer to grammatically related groups of words. A phrase is a sequence of two or more words that make up a grammatical construction, usually lacking a finite verb and hence not a complete clause or sentence: shady lane (a noun phrase); at the bottom (a prepositional phrase); very slowly (an adverbial phrase). In general use, phrase refers to any frequently repeated or memorable group of words, usually of less than sentence length or complexity: a case of feast or famine—to use the well-known phrase. Expression is the most general of these words and may refer to a word, a phrase, or even a sentence: prose filled with old-fashioned expressions. An idiom is a phrase or larger unit of expression that is peculiar to a single language or a variety of a language and whose meaning, often figurative, cannot easily be understood by combining the usual meanings of its individual parts, as to go for broke. Locution is a somewhat formal term for a word, a phrase, or an expression considered as peculiar to or characteristic of a regional or social dialect or considered as a sample of language rather than as a meaning-bearing item: a unique set of locutions heard only in the mountainous regions of the South.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• misphrase
  verb (used with object)
• unphrased
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• phrases
  plural

Participles

• phrasing
  present
• phrased
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• phrase
  simple
• phrases
  simple
• have phrased
  perfect
• has phrased
  perfect
• am phrasing
  progressive
• are phrasing
  progressive
• is phrasing
  progressive
• have been phrasing
  perfect progressive
• has been phrasing
  perfect progressive

Past

• phrased
  simple
• had phrased
  perfect
• was phrasing
  progressive
• were phrasing
  progressive
• had been phrasing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will phrase
  simple
• will have phrased
  perfect
• will be phrasing
  progressive
• will have been phrasing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of phrase

First recorded in 1520–30; (noun) back formation from phrases, plural of earlier phrasis, from Latin phrasis “diction, style” (plural phrasēs ), from Greek phrásis “diction, style, speech,” equivalent to phrá(zein) “to speak” + -sis -sis; (verb) derivative of the noun

Explanation

The verb phrase means to articulate. You should be careful how you phrase your criticism of your boss. Saying he can be demanding is probably okay. Saying he is an ogre is probably not. In grammar, a phrase is a group of words that is part of a sentence but can't stand alone. In the sentence, "We should go to your house," "to your house" is a phrase. A phrase can also be an idiomatic saying. If you told a foreign exchange student to "get off the fence" and pick a side in the debate, he might look puzzled at the phrase and say, "But I'm nowhere near a fence!"

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

phrase phrases phrased phrasing

As divisive as the phrase "United DNA" is, it undoubtedly remains a key part of the conversation about United both externally and internally.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

In Chicago, we have a phrase for what happens to a hot dog after it has been loaded with tomatoes, onions, peppers and pickle: it’s been “dragged through the garden.”

From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2026

"Be careful what you wish for," Barker said with a smile, recognizing the phrase also applies to his film's meteoric success.

From Barron's ● Sep. 13, 2026

He can’t recall when or from whom he first heard the phrase, but ever since, the Five Ps have stuck with him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Children are introduced to key musical elements such as meter, dynamics, rhythms, tempo, duration, melody, form, phrase, and pitch.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

When a federal judge is using phrases like these to describe your legal argument, that is a good sign that things are not going as you’d hoped.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

He suggests phrases such as "I can see you're worried" to make a child feel listened to.

From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026

The use of Q phrases by government agencies during wartime has excited online conspiracy theorists.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026

To refine its packaging copy, Conagra is running word-association studies to test phrases like “good source of fiber” and “high in protein”—seeking claims that grab attention without sounding too clinical.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

These phrases were then strung together in ways that made the letter seem more or less natural to a casual reader.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

Pochin later apologised for her remarks saying they were "phrased poorly", but maintained that many adverts were "unrepresentative of British society".

From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2026

Pascal Confavreux, a ministry spokesman, phrased it more diplomatically: “We use irony and humor to deliver a punch and create deterrence by exposing the absurdity of the claims made by those who attack us.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026

It’s also important to know how a poll question is phrased and, in the case of a ballot measure, how it describes the matter voters are being asked to decide.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2025

As I phrased it back when I first wrote about the dish, “The cheeses meld together to form the most delicious, frico-laced roasted and blistered fennel imaginable.”

From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2025

It sounded like a callous way to put things, but the way he phrased it, so soft and concerned, I liked him.

From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini

Tremblay said the pitch has to be "Canada has stuff that the world needs" - which is the exact phrasing Carney has opted for.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

Using the descriptive phrasing that was common then among older people, she said, “That is the prettiest little girl I have ever seen.”

From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026

At the end of the show, a stunning reading of “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” revealed the instinctive ease with which she can navigate the sweet, syncopated phrasing of Dominican merengue.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

A sermon used to take him 10 to 15 hours to prepare; a chatbot doing first-pass research and phrasing shaves off several of them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

At some point, Dr. Singh had told Mom not to ask if I was feeling anxious, so she’d stopped phrasing it as a direct question.

From "Turtles All the Way Down" by John Green

Related Words

• expression
• idiom
• motto
• phrasing
• remark
• saying
• slogan
• terminology
• utterance
• wording