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phrase - definition and meaning
Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A sequence of words that have meaning, especially when forming part of a sentence.
- noun A characteristic way or mode of expression.
- noun A brief, apt, and cogent expression.
- noun Music A short passage or segment, often consisting of four measures or forming part of a larger unit.
- noun A series of dance movements forming a unit in a choreographic pattern.
- intransitive verb To express orally or in writing.
- intransitive verb To divide (a passage) into phrases.
- intransitive verb To combine (notes) in a phrase.
- intransitive verb To make or express phrases.
- intransitive verb Music To perform a passage with the correct phrasing.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To employ peculiar phrases or forms of speech; ex press one's self.
- In music, to divide a piece in performance into short sections or phrases, so as to bring out the metrical and harmonic form of the whole, and make it musically intelligible; also, to perform any group of tones without pause.
- To express or designate by a particular phrase or term; call; style.
- noun A brief expression; more specifically, two or more words expressing what is practically a single notion, and thus performing the office of a single part of speech, or entering with a certain degree of unity into the structure of a sentence.
- noun A peculiar or characteristic expression; a mode of expression peculiar to a language; an idiom.
- noun The manner or style in which a person ex presses himself; diction; phraseology; language; also, an expression, or a form of expression.
- noun In music, a short and somewhat independent division or part of a piece, less complete than a period, and usually closing with a cadence or a half-cadence.
- noun In fencing, a period between the beginning and end of a short passage at arms between fencers during which there is no pause, each fencer thrusting and parrying in turn
- noun See the adjectives.
- noun Synonyms See term.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A brief expression, sometimes a single word, but usually two or more words forming an expression by themselves, or being a portion of a sentence.
- noun A short, pithy expression; especially, one which is often employed; a peculiar or idiomatic turn of speech.
- noun A mode or form of speech; the manner or style in which any one expreses himself; diction; expression.
- noun (Mus.) A short clause or portion of a period.
- noun a book of idiomatic phrases.
- transitive verb To express in words, or in peculiar words; to call; to style.
- intransitive verb rare To use proper or fine phrases.
- intransitive verb (Mus.) To group notes into phrases. See
Phrase , n., 4.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A short written or spoken
expression . - noun grammar A word or group of words that functions as a single unit in the
syntax of a sentence, usually consisting of ahead , or central word, and elaborating words. - noun music A small section of
music in a larger piece. - verb intransitive (
music ) To perform a passage with the correct phrasing. - verb transitive To express (an action, thought or idea) by means of words.
- verb transitive (
music ) To divide into melodic phrases.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun dance movements that are linked in a single choreographic sequence
- noun an expression consisting of one or more words forming a grammatical constituent of a sentence
- noun an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up
- verb put into words or an expression
- verb divide, combine, or mark into phrases
- noun a short musical passage
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Latin phrasis, diction, from Greek, speech, diction, phrase, from phrazein, to point out, show; see gwhren- in Indo-European roots.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Late Latin phrasis ("diction"), from Ancient Greek φράσις (phrasis, "manner of expression"), from φράζω (phrazō, "I tell, express").
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Examples
-
The +infinitive phrase+ may be used +after a preposition+ as the +principal term+ of another phrase.
Higher Lessons in English A work on english grammar and composition Brainerd Kellogg
-
-- _Compose sentences in which each of these three participles shall be used as an adjective modifier, as the principal word in a prepositional phrase, as the principal word in a phrase used as a subject or as an object complement, as a mere adjective, as a mere noun, and in an absolute phrase_: --
Higher Lessons in English A work on english grammar and composition Brainerd Kellogg
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-- A third method consists in expanding the period into a double-period (precisely as the phrase was lengthened into a double-phrase, or period), _by avoiding a perfect cadence at the end of the second phrase_, and adding another pair of phrases to balance the first pair.
Lessons in Music Form A Manual of Analysis of All the Structural Factors and Designs Employed in Musical Composition Percy Goetschius 1898
-
The process of extension or expansion, by means of which the phrase usually assumes a somewhat irregular length, consists mainly in the varied repetition of the figures or motives that it contains; and the continuity of the whole, as extension of the _one phrase_, is maintained by suppressing the cadence -- suspending all cadential interruption -- during the lengthening process.
Lessons in Music Form A Manual of Analysis of All the Structural Factors and Designs Employed in Musical Composition Percy Goetschius 1898
-
"cadence-measure of the old phrase" is unquestionably _at the same time the first measure, or actual beginning, of the new phrase_.
Lessons in Music Form A Manual of Analysis of All the Structural Factors and Designs Employed in Musical Composition Percy Goetschius 1898
-
II. iv.155 (385,1) Do you but mark how this becomes the house?] [T: the use?] [Warburton called "becomes the house" "a most expressive phrase"] with this _most expressive phrase_ I believe no reader is satisfied.
Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies Samuel Johnson 1746
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My informal count in "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" shows that Mr. Friedman used the title phrase or some variation of it nearly 40 times: an average of one appearance every 12 pages.
Shovel-Ready Shibboleths Andrew Ferguson 2011
-
Some are so shocking that the title phrase is uttered aloud.
-
In China, the phrase is code for attempting to deal with income inequalities, especially the hardships of farmers and millions of migrant laborers.
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In China, the phrase is code for attempting to deal with income inequalities, especially the hardships of farmers and millions of migrant laborers.
Related Words
synonyms (239)
Words with the same meaning
- Parthian shot
- adage
- address
- adjectival phrase
- affirmation
- allegation
- ana
- anacrusis
- analects
- answer
- aphorism
- apostrophe
- apothegm
- article
- articulate
- assertion
- averment
- axiom
- back matter
- bass passage
- book
- bourdon
- breathe
- bridge
- burden
- byword
- cadence
- call
- catchword
- chapter
- chestnut
- chime
- choice of words
- chorus
- clause
- cliche
- coda
- collected sayings
- collocation
- colloquialism
- column
- come out with
- comment
- commonplace
- communicate
- composition
- conceive
- convey
- couch
- couch in terms
- crack
- current saying
- declaration
- delineate
- deliver
- describe
- development
- dialect
- dictate
- diction
- dictum
- disclose
- distich
- division
- embody in words
- emit
- enunciate
- epigram
- exclamation
- exposition
- express
- expression
- fascicle
- figure
- figure of speech
- fling off
- folderol
- folio
- formularize
- formulate
- formulation
- frame
- front matter
- gathering
- give
- give expression
- give expression to
- give out with
- give tongue
- give utterance
- give voice
- give words to
- glosseme
- gnome
- golden saying
- grammar
- greeting
- harmonic close
- icon
- idiom
- impart
- installment
- interjection
- interlude
- intermezzo
- introductory phrase
- language
- leitmotiv
- let out
- lexeme
- lexical form
- lip
- livraison
- locution
- manner of speaking
- maxim
- measure
- mention
- moral
- morpheme
- mot
- motif
- motive
- motto
- movement
- musical phrase
- musical sentence
- note
- noun phrase
- number
- observation
- oracle
- ornament
- out with
- page
- paragraph
- parlance
- part
- passage
- period
- phonate
- phraseology
- phrasing
- pithy saying
- platitude
- position
- pour forth
- precept
- prescript
- present
- pronounce
- pronouncement
- proverb
- proverbial saying
- proverbs
- put
- put forth
- put in words
- question
- raise
- reflection
- refrain
- remark
- resolution
- response
- rhetoric
- rhetorize
- ritornello
- saw
- say
- saying
- section
- semasiological unit
- sememe
- sentence
- sententious expression
- serial
- set forth
- set out
- sheet
- sign
- signature
- signifiant
- significant
- slogan
- sloka
- sound
- speech
- stanza
- state
- statement
- stock saying
- strain
- style
- subject
- subjoinder
- sutra
- symbol
- syntax
- tailpiece
- talk
- teaching
- tell
- term
- text
- theme
- thought
- throw off
- token
- tutti
- tutti passage
- type
- usage
- use of words
- usus loquendi
- utter
- utterance
- v
- variation
- verb phrase
- verbalize
- verbiage
- verse
- vocabulary
- vocalize
- voice
- volume
- way of speaking
- whisper
- wisdom
- wisdom literature
- wise saying
- witticism
- word
- word-group
- wordage
- wording
- words of wisdom
- write
hypernyms (8)
Words that are more generic or abstract
same context (37)
Words that are found in similar contexts
relateds (2)
relateds
cross-references (4)
Cross-references
rhymes (123)
Words with the same terminal sound
- Blaise
- Blase
- Chevrolets
- Hayes
- Hays
- Lyonnais
- Malays
- Mays
- Polonaise
- Res
- Sais
- Shays
- ablaze
- allays
- amaze
- appraise
- arrays
- baize
- ballets
- bayes
- bays
- baze
- betrays
- blaize
- blase
- blaze
- bouquets
- braise
- brase
- buffets
- cabarets
- cabernets
- caches
- cafes
- chaise
- chalets
- claes
- clays
- cliches
- communiques
- conveys
- crase
- crays
- craze
- dais
- daise
- dase
- days
- daze
- decays
- defrays
- delays
- dismays
- dismutase
- displays
- dossiers
- essays
- faze
- filets
- frase
- gays
- gaze
- glaze
- grays
- graze
- hase
- hays
- haze
- heys
- jays
- kays
- lais
- lase
- lays
- leis
- leys
- lyonnaise
- maize
- malaise
- mase
- matinees
- mays
- maze
- morays
- nase
- nays
- obeys
- okays
- overplays
- pais
- parfaits
- pays
- phase
- plays
- polonaise
- portrays
- praise
- prays
- preys
- purveys
- raise
- rase
- rays
- raze
- reappraise
- repays
- rephrase
- replays
- res
- sais
- shays
- sprays
- stays
- strays
- surveys
- sways
- todays
- trays
- urokinase
- wais
- ways
- weighs
- yeas
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