phrase
[freyz]
|
noun
verb (used with object), phrased, phras·ing.
verb (used without object), phrased, phras·ing.
Music. to perform a passage or piece with proper phrasing.
Origin of phrase
1520–30; (noun) back formation from phrases, plural of earlier phrasis < Latin phrasis diction, style (plural phrasēs) < Greek phrásis diction, style, speech, equivalent to phrá(zein) to speak + -sis -sis; (v.) derivative of the noun
Synonyms for phrase
1. 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
phrase
noun
verb (tr)
Word Origin for phrase
C16: from Latin phrasis, from Greek: speech, from phrazein to declare, tell
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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phrase
phrase
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
phrase
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
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