catachresis
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- catachrestic adjective
- catachrestical adjective
- catachrestically adverb
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.
"The fury of his fancy often transported him beyond the bounds of judgment, either in coining of new words and phrases, or racking words which were in use, into the violence of catachresis."
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845 by Various
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 Lodge, Henry Cabot
This journal was, at the period in question, rather remarkable for the use of the figure called by the rhetoricians catachresis.
From Rejected Addresses by Smith, James
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
You must listen to the definition of a catachresis:—'A catachresis is the boldest of any trope.
From Tales and Novels — Volume 04 by Edgeworth, Maria
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.