phrase

American  

[frayz] / 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.

---

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

---

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.

---

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

Charles used the phrase in a speech in Barbados when he attended the ceremony in which it became a republic in 2021, removing his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, as head of state.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

“And finally, the phrase ‘physically demanding’ is vague at best.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026

The Hollywood actress also revisited comments she made recently about the term "nepo baby", which she said was a "horrific" phrase.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

This was an evocative turn of phrase from former L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

It has never occurred to me that I could create a phrase.

From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga

Coroners are in the business of endings, putting a neat period on decades of damage with phrases like “cardiac arrest.”

From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026

But here’s the honest truth: People are spending so much time with AI that they’re adopting chatbots’ favorite phrases in conversation, Slacks, emails and texts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

A looming ice shelf in the background is surrounded by phrases including, “A Man. A Plan. A Meltdown,” and “Comedy equals tragedy plus time.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

Some words or phrases show up regularly, while monotonous sentence structures are also a warning sign.

From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026

We owe to him indispensable phrases which encapsulate powerful arguments, such as ‘unintended consequence’ and ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’; one of his phrases, ‘role model’, has moved out of the university into daily speech.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

He stumbled into his fate by saying demeaning, insulting things that could have been phrased diplomatically.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026

Other countries have phrased it well: truth and reconciliation.

From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026

The Stueve brothers always defended raw milk, as brother Melvin Stueve phrased it, “the very best and safest milk there is.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2026

In a social media post later on Saturday, Pochin said her comments "were phrased poorly and I unreservedly apologise for any offence caused, which was not my intention".

From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2025

I wondered what he was saying to her, how he phrased his words.

From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

Government lawyers argued at a hearing before Cooper on Thursday that the phrasing would not constitute a renaming but rather recognition of Trump's efforts to renovate the building honoring president John F Kennedy.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

At the end of the show, a stunning reading of “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” revealed the instinctive ease with which she can navigate the sweet, syncopated phrasing of Dominican merengue.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

A UK government spokesperson said: "We have previously acknowledged this phrasing and took immediate steps to ensure it was not replicated."

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department released the handwritten notes Friday, saying investigators believe the author’s distinctive language, grammar and phrasing could be recognized by someone who knows the writer.

From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026

“You have a very interesting way of phrasing things.”

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

Related Words

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