antiphrasis

American  

[an-tif-ruh-sis] / ænˈtɪf rə sɪs /

noun

Rhetoric.

1. the use of a word in a sense opposite to its proper meaning.

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antiphrasis British  

/ ænˈtɪfrəsɪs /

noun

1. rhetoric the use of a word in a sense opposite to its normal one, esp for ironic effect

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Other Word Forms

• antiphrastic adjective
• antiphrastical adjective
• antiphrastically adverb

Etymology

Origin of antiphrasis

1525–35; < Latin < Greek, derivative of antiphrázein to speak the opposite ( anti- anti- + phrázein to speak); phrase, sis

Example Sentences

Now, they were taunted with their very name, as having been bestowed upon them "by antiphrasis," i.e. by contraries.

From Chaucer by Ward, Adolphus William, Sir

Besides all the fine things above described in my uncle's garden, there was also a rather unpleasant pavilion, which he had entitled the Délices, doubtless by antiphrasis.

From One of Cleopatra's Nights and Other Fantastic Romances One of Cleopatra's Nights?Clarimonde?Arria Marcella?The Mummy's Foot?Omphale: a Rococo Story?King Candaules by Gautier, Th?ophile

Ramusio, Tiberi; Lisbon edition calls them Tuias; in the Portuguese this caste is called tiar and civel or rustic by antiphrasis, which has been mistaken by the translators for an Indian word.

From A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century by Barbosa, Duarte

Instances of antiphrasis in the names given to black slaves are very common.

From The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I. Commonly Called the Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Anonymous