| 单词 | malapropism |
| 释义 | malapropism (once / 134311 pages) n A malapropism occurs when you say one word but you mean another, like instead of saying a certain restaurant is prosperous, you say it is preposterous. As you can tell, malapropisms are often humorous, though sometimes the joke is on the speaker. The word malapropism, pronounced "mah-luh-PRAH-pih-zum," comes from the French phrase mal à propos, which means "ill-suited." Playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan must have been thinking of the French phrase when he created his character Mrs. Malaprop, who made audiences howl with laughter when she used the wrong word. Examples include saying "allegory" instead of "alligator," and "illiterate him from your memory" instead of "obliterate." WORD FAMILYmalapropism: malapropisms+/malaprop: malapropism, malaprops USAGE EXAMPLESA friend of his likes to use pet peeves as his passwords, such as the malapropism “all intensive purposes.” Washington Post(Aug 11, 2016) Corkin cataloged his verbal tics, his malapropisms, his stock phrases. New York Times(Aug 03, 2016) All those explanations build an elaborate world via colorful malapropisms. The Verge(Jul 01, 2016) n the unintentional misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar Syn|Hyper malaprop misstatement a statement that contains a mistake |
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