catachresis
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of catachresis
First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin catachrēsis, from Greek katáchrēsis “a misuse or misapplication of a word or phrase” (derivative of katachrêsthai “to misuse”), equivalent to kata- verb prefix implying waste or consumption + chrêsis “use” (noun derivative of chrê(sthai) “to use, need”) + -sis verbal abstract noun suffix. See cata-, -sis
Vocabulary lists containing catachresis
Reading: Literature - Literary Devices & Figures of Speech - High School
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Rhetoric
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In this sense the proverb is current by a misuse, or a catachresis at least of both the words, Fortune and Fools.
From The Best of the World's Classics, Vol. V (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland III by Henry Cabot Lodge
You must listen to the definition of a catachresis:—'A catachresis is the boldest of any trope.
From Tales and Novels — Volume 04 by Maria Edgeworth
And yet, after a vast deal of such like catachresis, the orthodoxy of plagiarism remains still in dispute.
From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No 3, September, 1862 Devoted to Literature and National Policy. by Various
The stone furze ditches are scarcely bolder instances of the catachresis than the stone tables of shittim-wood.
From Tales and Novels — Volume 04 by Maria Edgeworth
As to “twinn'd stones”—may it not be a bold catachresis for muscles, cockles, and other empty shells with hinges, which are truly twinned?
From Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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