antiphrasis
Use of a word or phrase in a sense opposite of its literal meaning, especially for…Use of a word or phrase in a sense opposite of its literal meaning, especially for ironic or humorous effect.
Meaning
1 senses(countable, rhetoric, uncountable)Use of a word or phrase in a sense opposite of its literal meaning, especially for ironic or humorous effect.
When they called him “bad as hell”, they weren’t calling him evil. It was antiphrasis.
Antiphrasis, Antiphrase
the use of a word in a sense opposite to its normal sense (especially in irony)
Translations
6 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
Borrowed from Late Latin antiphrasis, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀντίφρασις (anBorrowed from Late Latin antiphrasis, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀντίφρασις (antíphrasis) (< phrazein "declare").
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: antiphrases| Singular | antiphrasis |
|---|---|
| Plural | antiphrases |
irregular
Word family
1 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.