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

"The iron horse wants to run," a sign reads, alongside a phrase in English: "We want to be back on track."

From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026

The group exhibition “To Share a Stomach” is a bit like the children’s game Telephone, in which a phrase, whispered from person to person, inevitably comes out a bit garbled.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

China has a phrase for it: yi zu dai mai, or “rent instead of buy.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026

Shira Eisenberg, founder of an AI startup for early childhood, thinks the popularity of the phrase reflects a culture of bristling ambition stoked by the AI boom.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

A musical phrase is actually a lot like a grammatical phrase.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

To keep catching consumers’ eyes, Conagra is running word-association research studies to find what words and phrases best draw attention without sounding too clinical, like “good source of fiber” and “high in protein.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

For starters, “Victory” is his daughter’s name, but both phrases are also a direct nod to the late Nipsey Hussle, who had the same words etched on his face.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

He likes to get heavily involved and was particularly animated, using phrases like "play in possession" and "quicker, quicker" repeatedly.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026

The union said that despite repeated demands to improve workplace conditions -- including mounting protest phrases on trucks -- the company had "ultimately ignored partners' demands, instead unilaterally introducing even more burdensome promotional events".

From Barron's ● Jul. 19, 2026

But even without text, the phrases in a melody can be very clear.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

"We told you: keep your word or pay the price," is how Iran's lead negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf recently phrased it on social media, quoting the agreement.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 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

And the way they phrased it was that they were questioning her.

From Slate ● Jun. 17, 2025

River Styx or no, the way Sciron phrased his promise didn’t reassure her.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

The actual phrasing he used was far ruder than that – but you get the drift.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

This phrasing appears to reserve press conferences for big announcements — a change from the past few Fed chairs who spoke to reporters four and then eight times a year after monetary-policy decisions.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026

Even in April, three officials, including Logan, dissented against the phrasing in the policy statement that suggested more cuts are ahead.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026

Maalouf: For me, as a trumpet player, of course, the musical influence; space, phrasing, silence, we can talk about this for hours.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2026

Harry had told me that Bach should be played very softly, and very loudly, to exaggerate the phrasing, because the pieces themselves are so ordered that the emotion needs to come through in the playing.

From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson

Related Words

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