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Webster 1913 Edition
Catachresis
Catˊa-chre′sis
,Noun.
[L. fr. Gr. [GREEK] misuse, fr. [GREEK] to misuse;
κατά
against + [GREEK] to use.] (Rhet.)
A figure by which one word is wrongly put for another, or by which a word is wrested from its true signification; as, “To take arms against a sea of troubles”.
Shak.
“Her voice was but the shadow of a sound.” Young.
Webster 1828 Edition
Catachresis
CATACHRESIS
,Noun.
A catachresis is a trope which borrows the name of one thing to express another, or a harsh trope; as when Milton, speaking of Raphaels descent from heaven, says, he sails between worlds and worlds. Here the novelty of the word sails enlivens the image. So in scripture we read of the blood of the grape. Deut. 32.
Definition 2024
catachresis
catachresis
English
Alternative forms
Variant spellings[1] catechresis (17 th century, obsolete, now a misspelling), katachresis (17 th century)
Noun
catachresis (plural catachreses)
- A misuse of a word; an application of a term to something which it does not properly denote.[1]
- (rhetoric) A misapplication or overextension of figurative or analogical description; a wrongly-applied metaphor or trope.[1]
Related terms
- catachresized
- catachrestic
- catachrestical
- catachrestically
Synonyms
- (misuse of a word): misnomer, malapropism
- ((rhetoric) bad metaphor or trope): abusio
Translations
misuse of a word
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(rhetoric) bad metaphor or trope
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References
- 1 2 3 4 “‖catachresis” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]