phrase

phrase

See also: Phrase and phrasé

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• enPR: frāz, IPA^(key): /fɹeɪz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪz
• Homophones: fraise, frays

Noun

phrase (plural phrases)

Examples (grammar)
noun phrase: the big bird (head: bird)

1. A short written or spoken expression.
2. (grammar) A word or, more commonly, a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence, usually consisting of a head, or central word, and elaborating words.
   • 2013 November 30, Paul Davis, “Letters: Say it as simply as possible”, in The Economist‎, 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?

3. (music) A small section of music in a larger piece.
4. (archaic) A mode or form of speech; diction; expression.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene vi]:

     Thou speak'st / In better phrase and matter than thou didst.

   • 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part II”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], OCLC 2024748, page 39:

     […] From out a common vein of memory / Sweet household talk, and phrases of the hearth, […]

5. (dance) A short individual motion forming part of a choreographed dance.

Synonyms

• (expression): figure of speech, locution
• See also Thesaurus:phrase

Derived terms

• adjective phrase
• adverbial phrase
• adverb phrase
• antecedent phrase
• bombard phrase
• catch phrase
• catch-phrase
• catchphrase
• consequent phrase
• determiner phrase
• empty phrase
• noun phrase
• participial phrase
• phrasal
• phrase book
• phrasemaker
• phraseology
• phrase structure
• prepositional phrase
• set phrase
• signature phrase
• turn a phrase
• verb phrase

 

Translations

short written or spoken expression

Afrikaans: 'n frase, frase (af) Albanian: frazë (sq) f Amharic: ሐረግ (am) (ḥäräg) Arabic: جُمْلَة‎ (ar) f (jumla), تَعْبِير‎ m (taʿbīr), عِبَارَة‎ f (ʿibāra) Egyptian Arabic: تَعْبِير‎ m (taʿbīr) Armenian: արտահայտություն (hy) (artahaytutʿyun) Azerbaijani: ifadə (az), ibarə (az), fraza Belarusian: фра́за f (fráza), высло́ўе n (vyslóŭje) Bengali: বাক্য (bn) (bakẏ), ফ্রেজ (phrej) Bulgarian: фра́за (bg) f (fráza), и́зраз (bg) m (ízraz) Burmese: နိဒ္ဒေသ (my) (niddesa.) Chechen: алар (alar) Chinese: Cantonese: 片語, 片语 (pin3 jyu5) Mandarin: 短語／短语 (zh) (duǎnyǔ), 片語／片语 (zh) (piànyǔ) (Taiwan), 詞組／词组 (zh) (cízǔ) Min Nan: 片語, 片语 (phiàn-gí) Wu: 片語, 片语 (phi nyy) Czech: fráze (cs) f Danish: frase c, udtryk n Dutch: uitspraak (nl) f Esperanto: frazo (eo) Estonian: fraas, väljend Finnish: ilmaus (fi) French: expression (fr) f, locution (fr) f Galician: frase (gl) f Georgian: ფრაზა (praza) German: Redewendung (de) f, Phrase (de) f Greek: φράση (el) f (frási) Hebrew: צֵרוּף לָשׁוֹן‎ f (tzeiruf lashon), מִשְׁפָּט‎ (he) m (mishpát) Hindi: मुहावरा (hi) m (muhāvrā), वाक्यांश m (vākyānś), वाक्य (hi) m (vākya), जुमला (hi) m (jumlā), इबारत (hi) f (ibārat) Hungarian: mondás (hu), kifejezés (hu) Icelandic: frasi (is) m, málsháttur (is) m Indonesian: ungkapan (id), frasa (id) Interlingua: expression (ia) Irish: frása m Italian: espressione (it) f, polirematica (it) f Japanese: 句 (ja) (く, ku), 語句 (ja) (ごく, goku), フレーズ (ja) (furēzu) Kazakh: фраза (fraza), сөйлем (söilem), сөйлемше (söilemşe) Khmer: ឃ្លា (km) (khliə) Korean: 어구(語句) (ko) (eogu), 구(句) (ko) (gu) Kyrgyz: фраза (fraza), сүйлөм (ky) (süylöm) Lao: ປໂຍກ (pa nyōk), ວະລີ (wa lī) Latvian: frāze f Lithuanian: žodžių junginys (lt) m, frazė f Macedonian: фраза f (fraza), израз m (izraz) Malay: ungkapan, frasa Maori: kīanga, rerenga kupu Mongolian: Cyrillic: хэлц (mn) (xelc) Norwegian: Bokmål: frase (no) m Nynorsk: frase m Pashto: عبارت‎ (ps) m ('ebārat) Persian: عبارت‎ (fa) ('ebârat), گروه واژه‎ (goruh vajhe), جمله‎ (fa) (jomle) Polish: zdanie (pl) n, fraza (pl) f, wyrażenie (pl) n Portuguese: expressão (pt) f, frase (pt) f Romanian: expresie (ro) f, frază (ro) f Russian: фра́за (ru) f (fráza), выраже́ние (ru) n (vyražénije) Scottish Gaelic: abairt f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: фра́за f Roman: fráza (sh) f Slovak: fráza f, zvrat m Slovene: fraza (sl) f Spanish: expresión (es) f, frase (es) f Swedish: fras (sv) c, uttryck (sv) n Tagalog: parirala Tajik: ибора (tg) (ibora), ҷумла (tg) (jumla) Tatar: гыйбарә (tt) (ğıybarä), сүзтезмә (süztezmä) Thai: วลี (th) (wá-lii), ประโยค (th) (bprà-yòok) Tok Pisin: toktok Turkish: deyim (tr), tabir (tr), ifade (tr) Turkmen: jümle, fraza Ukrainian: фра́за f (fráza), ви́слів (uk) m (výsliv), ре́чення (uk) n (réčennja) Urdu: جُمْلَہ‎ m (jumlā), عِبارَت‎ f (ibārat) Uyghur: ئىبارەت‎ (ibaret) Uzbek: ibora (uz), fraza (uz), gap (uz) Vietnamese: cụm từ (vi), câu (vi) Volapük: fraseod (vo) Walloon: ratourneure (wa) f Yiddish: פֿראַזע‎ f (fraze) Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

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

Albanian: frazë (sq) f, shprehje (sq) f Armenian: բառակապակցություն (hy) (baṙakapakcʿutʿyun) Azerbaijani: ibarə (az) Belarusian: словазлучэ́нне n (slovazlučénnje), фра́за f (fráza) Bulgarian: фра́за (bg) f (fráza) Catalan: sintagma m Czech: slovní spojení (cs) n, sousloví (cs) n Dutch: frase (nl) f Esperanto: lokucio Estonian: fraas Finnish: lauseke (fi), fraasi (fi) French: syntagme (fr) m, phrase (fr) f (sentence) German: Phrase (de) f Greek: φράση (el) f (frási) Hungarian: szókapcsolat (hu), szószerkezet (hu), (following an adjective that specifies it) csoport (hu) or szerkezet (hu) Indonesian: frasa (id) Irish: frása m, abairtín m Italian: locuzione (it) f, polirematica (it) f, frase (it) f Japanese: 句 (ja) (く, ku) Korean: 구(句) (ko) (gu) Lithuanian: žodžių junginys (lt) m, frazė f Northern Sami: gihppu Norwegian: Bokmål: frase (no) m Nynorsk: frase m Persian: گروه واژه‎ (goruh vâže) Polish: wypowiedzenie (pl) n, fraza (pl) f Portuguese: locução (pt) f, sintagma (pt) m Romani: Kalo Finnish Romani: laavengo knippos Romanian: frază (ro) f, expresie (ro) f, sintagmă (ro) f Russian: словосочета́ние (ru) n (slovosočetánije), оборо́т ре́чи (ru) m (oborót réči), фра́за (ru) f (fráza) Scottish Gaelic: abairt f Slovene: stavek (sl) m Spanish: sintagma (es) m Swedish: fras (sv) c, uttryck (sv) n Tagalog: parirala Thai: วลี (th) (wá-lii) Turkish: öbek (tr) Ukrainian: словосполу́чення (uk) n (slovospolúčennja), фра́за f (fráza) Vietnamese: cụm từ (vi) Walloon: fråze (wa) f Yiddish: פֿראַזע‎ f (fraze)

music: small section of music in a larger piece

Belarusian: фра́за f (fráza) Bulgarian: фраза (bg) f (fraza) Catalan: frase (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 樂句／乐句 (zh) (yuèjù) Finnish: fraasi (fi), lauseke (fi) French: phrase (fr) f German: Phrase (de) f Greek: φράση (el) f (frási) Hungarian: frázis (hu) Italian: frase (it) f Japanese: 楽句 (がっく, gakku), フレーズ (ja) (furēzu) Korean: 악구(樂句) (akgu), 프레이즈 (peureijeu) Macedonian: фраза f (fraza) Norwegian: Bokmål: frase (no) m Nynorsk: frase m Polish: fraza (pl) f Portuguese: frase (pt) f Russian: фра́за (ru) f (fráza) Spanish: frase (es) f Swedish: fras (sv) c Ukrainian: фра́за f (fráza)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Indonesian: (please verify) frase (id) Interlingua: (please verify) phrase (ia), (please verify) expression (ia), (please verify) locution

See also

• phrase on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

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.

   • 1613, William Shakespeare; [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:

     These suns — for so they phrase 'em.

2. (intransitive, music) To perform a passage with the correct phrasing.
3. (transitive, music) To divide into melodic phrases.

Derived terms

• phraser
• phrasing

Related terms

• paraphrase
• rephrase

Translations

music: perform a passage with the correct phrasing

Bulgarian: фрази́рам impf or pf (frazíram) Finnish: fraseerata (fi) Russian: фрази́ровать (ru) impf (frazírovatʹ) Swedish: frasera

express by means of words

Bulgarian: изразя́вам (bg) impf (izrazjávam), изразя́ pf (izrazjá) Chinese: Mandarin: 表述 (zh) (biǎoshù) Finnish: ilmaista (fi), pukea sanoiksi (fi) French: exprimer (fr), formuler (fr) German: formulieren (de) Greek: φράζειν (frázein) Interlingua: exprimer Italian: esprimere (it), redigere (it) Macedonian: изразува impf (izrazuva) Portuguese: exprimir (pt), expressar (pt) Russian: формули́ровать (ru) impf (formulírovatʹ), сформули́ровать (ru) pf (sformulírovatʹ), выража́ть (ru) impf (vyražátʹ), вы́разить (ru) pf (výrazitʹ) Spanish: formular (es), expresar (es), frasear (es) Swedish: benämna (sv), beteckna (sv), formulera (sv), ge uttryck åt, uttrycka (sv) Turkish: anlatmak (tr), ifade etmek (tr)

music: divide into melodic phrases

Finnish: fraseerata (fi) French: phraser (fr) Macedonian: фрази́ра impf or pf (frazíra) Russian: фрази́ровать (ru) impf (frazírovatʹ) Swedish: frasera

Further reading

• phrase in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• phrase in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• phrase at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• E sharp, E-sharp, Harpes, Sharpe, Sherpa, Spehar, e sharp, e-sharp, harpes, hepars, pasher, phares, phaser, raphes, seraph, shaper, sharpe, sherpa, shrape, sphear

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French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁaz/, /fʁɑz/

• audio

  (file)

• Audio (CAN)

  (file)

Noun

phrase f (plural phrases)

1. sentence

Usage notes

• This is a false friend to English phrase.

Derived terms

• phrase complexe
• phrase d'accroche
• phrase d'approche
• phrase simple
• phrasillon
• tournure de phrase

 

Further reading

• “phrase”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• harpes, phares

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpʰra.se/, [ˈpʰräs̠ɛ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfra.se/, [ˈfräːs̬e]

Noun

phrase

1. ablative singular of phrasis

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Portuguese

Noun

phrase f (plural phrases)

1. Obsolete spelling of frase (used in Portugal until September 1911 and in Brazil until the 1940s).