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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.
An abuse of a trope or of words; a figure in rhetoric, when one word is abusively put for another, or when a word is too far wrested from its true signification; as, a voice beautiful to the ear.
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)

  1. A misuse of a word; an application of a term to something which it does not properly denote.[1]
  2. (rhetoric) A misapplication or overextension of figurative or analogical description; a wrongly-applied metaphor or trope.[1]

Related terms

Synonyms

Translations

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 “‖catachresis” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]

Etymology

From Latin catachrēsis, from Ancient Greek κατάχρησις ‎(katákhrēsis, “misuse (of a word)”), from καταχρῆσθαι ‎(katakhrêsthai, “to misuse”), from κατά ‎(katá, “against”) + χρῆσθαι ‎(khrêsthai, “to use”), from καταχράομαι ‎(katakhráomai, “I misuse”), from κατά ‎(katá, “wastefully”) + χράω ‎(khráō, “I use”).

Pronunciation

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