phrase - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Borrowed from Late Latin phrasis (“diction”), from Ancient Greek φράσις (phrásis, “manner of expression”), from φράζω (phrázō, “to tell, express”).

phrase (plural phrases)

Examples (grammar)
noun phrase: the big bird (head: bird)
  1. A short written or spoken expression.
    I've made progress, but this is still, in Churchill's phrase, just "the end of the beginning."
    Hypernym: syntagma
  2. (grammar) A word or, more commonly, a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence, always containing an expressed or implied head (the principal word or subgroup, with core importance) and often consisting of a head plus some other elaborating words.
    Hypernym: utterance
    Hyponyms: noun phrase, verb phrase, adjective phrase, adjectival phrase, adverb phrase, adverbial phrase, prepositional phrase, pronominal phrase; noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, pronoun; term, word; adpositional phrase, antecedent phrase, bombard phrase, buzz-phrase, catchphrase, conjunctional phrase, consequent phrase, determiner phrase, filler phrase, fixed phrase, inflectional phrase, interjectional phrase, parting phrase, phrase name, seed phrase, set phrase, signal phrase, statistically improbable phrase, stock phrase, stop-phrase, term phrase
    Holonyms: clause, sentence; phrasing, phraseology, turn of phrase; phrase-book; document, message; language; communication
    Meronyms: head, complement, adjunct, supplement, modifier; term, word
    • 2013 November 30, Paul Davis, “Letters: Say it as simply as possible”, in The Economist‎[1], volume 409, number 8864:
      Congratulations on managing to use the phrase “preponderant criterion” in a chart (“On your marks”, November 9th). Was this the work of a kakorrhaphiophobic journalist set a challenge by his colleagues, or simply an example of glossolalia?
    • 2024, Geoffrey K. Pullum, The Truth About English Grammar, Polity Press, →ISBN, page 12:
      There is always a head in a phrase. When it is not accompanied by anything else, we have a one-word phrase. Cheese can be an NP [noun phrase], and so can squid. If we didn't allow one-word phrases, we'd often have to say "either a noun or an NP," "either a verb or a VP," and so on. When I talk about a phrase, always remember that I don't mean a unit containing more than one word; I mean a unit with at least one word (the head), which may contain other words as well.
  3. (music) A small section of music in a larger piece.
  4. (archaic) A mode or form of speech; diction; expression.
  5. (dance) A short individual motion forming part of a choreographed dance.

short written or spoken expression — see also expression

grammar: group of two or more words that express an idea but do not form a complete sentence — see also syntagma

music: small section of music in a larger piece

phrase (third-person singular simple present phrases, present participle phrasing, simple past and past participle phrased)

  1. (transitive) To express (an action, thought or idea) by means of particular words.
    I wasn't sure how to phrase my condolences without sounding patronising.
  2. (transitive, intransitive, music) To perform (a passage) with a particular phrasing.
  3. (transitive, music) To divide into melodic phrases.

express by means of words

From Latin phrasis (“diction”), from Ancient Greek φράσις (phrásis, “manner of expression”), from φράζω (phrázō, “to tell, express”).

phrase f (plural phrases)

  1. sentence

phrase

  1. ablative singular of phrasis

phrase f (plural phrases)

  1. pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of frase
    • 1880, Maria Amalia Vaz de Carvalho, “O annel do diplomata [The diplomat’s ring]”, in Contos e phantasias [Short stories and fantasies]‎[2], 2nd edition, Lisbon: Parceria Antonio Maria Pereira, published 1905, page 146:
      O pobre rapaz, que conhecia a falsa posição em que se collocara com a sua phrase, sentia-se humilhado e como que vendido n’aquelle meio.
      The poor young lad, who knew the false position in which he had put himself with his phrase, felt humiliated and embarrassed in the group.

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