Questions tagged [catachresis]
Use this tag for questions regarding the use of a word in an incorrect way, for example using 'militate' for 'mitigate'.
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Is it common for native English speakers to confuse "18th century" with "the 1800s"?
As a non-native English speaker, I've only ever referred to "1700-talet", meaning "the 1700s" or "the 18th century".
In English, it's by far most common to say "18th ...
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What's the term for a word used in casual conversation that differs from its actual meaning, e.g. using "rim" to mean "wheel" [closed]
It could be:
catachresis: A misuse of a word; an application of a term to something which it does not properly denote. e.g. Using 'rim' instead of 'wheel' is a catachresis, a misnomer used in casual ...
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Name of a misusage
What do you call the catachresis(? or misusage) when one uses an unreasonably extreme form of an attribute or adjective in a sentence where a more moderate one would be correct?
(e.g.there are two ...
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Term for the blatant use of the wrong word?
In my line of work I am confronted with people who blatantly or ignorantly misspeak.
Ex: Customer - "Hi. Can I get a bagel" Me - "I'm sorry, we only sell pretzels here sir." Customer - "Yeah, ...
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"Season's greetings" or "Seasoned greetings" [closed]
Today I heard the phrase "Seasoned greetings." Is this just some clever word play on the traditional "Season's greetings," meant to mean greetings spiced up with seasoning, or is it a legitimate ...
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Is there a word to describe someone who often inaccurately uses words?
Or a word to describe the act of inaccurately using complicated or unusual words (often in an attempt to sound more intelligent)?
I considered 'bombastic' but it doesn't have that quality of ...
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What's up with the word "egregious"?
According to Google's dictionary (and MacOS/iOS dictionary), egregious has the following definitions:
I've seen words with multiple definitions, but not ones that are exact contradictions. Some ...
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A word for when a word is used incorrectly (grammatically) but can still be parsed in a grammatically correct way?
Does such a word exist?
An example:
Do good.
Supposing that my intention in saying "Do good!" was actually "Do well (on your test)!", the sentence still parses correctly as "Do good (deeds)!"
I ...
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