phrase

American  

[freyz] / freɪz /

noun

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)

phrased, phrasing

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)

phrased, phrasing

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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Related Words

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

• misphrase
  verb (used with object)
• unphrased
  adjective

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

Not everyone agrees on the benefits of “Fedspeak,” a phrase popularized during former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan’ s term.

From Barron's • May 17, 2026

Routine, he says, makes him feel safe, but it’s something he is pushing against on this album, so much that he titled it after a phrase he realized he had used in two songs.

From Salon • May 15, 2026

In 1953, when Swanson purchased some of its initial advertising, the phrase had almost no foothold in American culture.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026

Along the way, as Troup told author Michael Wallis in the book “Route 66: The Mother Road,” Cynthia came up with a phrase she thought was songworthy.

From Los Angeles Times • May 12, 2026

Note that the term phrase refers to the music, while line refers to the lyrics or poem.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

Related Words

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