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Meaning of CATACHRESIS

Pronunciation:  `katu'kreesis

WordNet Dictionary
 
 Definition: [n]  strained or paradoxical use of words either in error (as `blatant' to mean `flagrant') or deliberately (as in a mixed metaphor: `blind mouths')
 
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 See Also: rhetorical device

 

 

Webster's 1913 Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
\Cat`a*chre"sis\, n. [L. fr. Gr. ? misuse, fr. ? to
misuse; kata` against + ? 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.
 
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