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.

   Hypernym: syntagma

3. (grammar) A word or, more commonly, a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence, always containing a head (the principal word or subgroup, with core importance) and often consisting of a head plus some other elaborating words.

   Hypernym: utterance

   Hyponyms: noun phrase, verb phrase, adjective phrase, adjectival phrase, adverb phrase, adverbial phrase, prepositional phrase, pronominal phrase; noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, pronoun; term, word; adpositional phrase, antecedent phrase, bombard phrase, buzz-phrase, catchphrase, conjunctional phrase, consequent phrase, determiner phrase, filler phrase, fixed phrase, inflectional phrase, interjectional phrase, parting phrase, phrase name, seed phrase, set phrase, signal phrase, statistically improbable phrase, stock phrase, stop-phrase, term phrase

   Holonyms: clause, sentence; phrasing, phraseology, turn of phrase; phrase-book; document, message; language; communication

   Meronyms: head, complement, adjunct, supplement, modifier; term, word

   • 2013 November 30, Paul Davis, “Letters: Say it as simply as possible”, in The Economist‎^[1], 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?

   • 2024, Geoffrey K. Pullum, The Truth About English Grammar, Polity Press, →ISBN, page 12:

     There is always a head in a phrase. When it is not accompanied by anything else, we have a one-word phrase. Cheese can be an NP [noun phrase], and so can squid. If we didn't allow one-word phrases, we'd often have to say "either a noun or an NP," "either a verb or a VP," and so on. When I talk about a phrase, always remember that I don't mean a unit containing more than one word; I mean a unit with at least one word (the head), which may contain other words as well.

4. (music) A small section of music in a larger piece.
5. (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, [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, page 39:

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

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

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• adjectival phrase
• adjective phrase
• adpositional phrase
• adverbial phrase
• adverb phrase
• antecedent phrase
• bombard phrase
• bombard-phrase
• buzz-phrase
• catch phrase
• catchphrase
• catch-phrase
• coin a phrase
• conjunctional phrase
• consequent phrase
• determiner phrase
• empty phrase
• filler phrase
• fixed phrase
• inflectional phrase
• interjectional phrase
• noun phrase
• participial phrase
• parting phrase
• phrasal
• phrase-book
• phrase book
• phrasemaker
• phrase name
• phraseology
• phrase structure
• prepositional phrase
• pronominal phrase
• seed phrase
• set phrase
• signal phrase
• signature phrase
• statistically improbable phrase
• stock phrase
• stop-phrase
• term phrase
• turn a phrase
• turn of 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 (taʕbīr), عِبَارَة f (ʕibāra)

  Egyptian Arabic: تَعْبِير m (taʕbīr)

• Armenian: արտահայտություն (hy) (artahaytutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: ifadə (az), ibarə (az), fraza
• Belarusian: фра́за f (fráza), высло́ўе n (vyslóŭje)
• Bengali: বাক্য (bn) (bakko), 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)

  Hokkien: 片語／片语 (phiàn-gí)

  Mandarin: 短語／短语 (zh) (duǎnyǔ), 片語／片语 (zh) (piànyǔ) (Taiwan), 詞組／词组 (zh) (cízǔ)

  Wu: 片語／片语 (⁵phi-gniu)

• 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 (vākyāñś), 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 vâže), 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) (baṙakapakcʻutʻyun)
• 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 (date written), 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, [Act I, scene i]:

     These suns — for so they phrase 'em.

   • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy), page 373, column 2:

     Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy—[…]—distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its flavor.

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, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “phrase”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “phrase”, in 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

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁaz/ ~ /fʁɑz/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Canada):

  (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

Latin

Pronunciation

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

Noun

phrase

1. ablative singular of phrasis

Portuguese

Noun

phrase f (plural phrases)

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of frase.