malapropism

malapropism
—malapropistic, adj.
/mal"euh prop iz'euhm/, n.
1. an act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, esp. by the confusion of words that are similar in sound.
2. an instance of this, as in "Lead the way and we'll precede."
[1840-50; MALAPROP + -ISM]

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      verbal blunder in which one word is replaced by another similar in sound but different in meaning. Although William Shakespeare had used the device for comic effect, the term derives from Richard Brinsley Sheridan's character Mrs. Malaprop, in his play The Rivals (1775). Her name is taken from the term malapropos (French: “inappropriate”) and is typical of Sheridan's practice of concocting names to indicate the essence of a character. Thinking of the geography of contiguous countries, she spoke of the “geometry” of “contagious countries,” and hoped that her daughter might “reprehend” the true meaning of what she is saying. She regretted that her “affluence” over her niece was very small.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • malapropism — malapropísm s. n. Trimis de siveco, 10.08.2004. Sursa: Dicţionar ortografic  MALAPROPÍSM s. n. folosire greşită, substituire a unui cuvânt. (< engl. malapropism) Trimis de raduborza, 15.09.2007. Sursa: MDN …   Dicționar Român

  • malapropism — mal a*prop*ism, n. [From Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Sheridan s drama, The Rivals, who makes amusing blunders in her use of words. See {Malapropos}.] A grotesque misuse of a word; a word so used. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • malapropism — index error, misapplication, misusage Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • malapropism — 1826, from Mrs. Malaprop, character in Sheridan s play The Rivals (1775), noted for her ridiculous misuse of large words (e.g. contagious countries for contiguous countries ), her name coined from MALAPROPOS (Cf. malapropos) …   Etymology dictionary

  • malapropism — (US also malaprop) ► NOUN ▪ the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar sounding one (e.g. ‘dance a flamingo’ instead of flamenco). ORIGIN from the name of the character Mrs Malaprop in Richard Sheridan s play The Rivals (1775) …   English terms dictionary

  • malapropism — [mal′ə präp΄iz΄əm] n. [< MALAPROP Mrs. + ISM] 1. ludicrous misuse of words, esp. through confusion caused by resemblance in sound 2. an instance of this (Ex.: progeny for prodigy) …   English World dictionary

  • Malapropism — A malapropism is an act of misusing or the habitual misuse of similar sounding words, especially with humorous results. An example is Yogi Berra s statement: Texas has a lot of electrical votes, [1] rather than electoral votes . Contents 1… …   Wikipedia

  • malapropism — noun /ˈmæləprɒpɪzəm,ˈmæləprɑːpɪzəm/ a) The blundering use of an absurdly inappropriate word or expression in place of a similar sounding one. The script employed malapropism to great effect. b) An instance of this; malaprop. Malapropism is much… …   Wiktionary

  • malapropism — UK [ˈmæləprɒpˌɪz(ə)m] / US [ˈmæləprɑˌpɪzəm] noun [countable] Word forms malapropism : singular malapropism plural malapropisms a word that is used wrongly but sounds like the word that you should have used, especially one that creates a funny… …   English dictionary

  • malapropism — [19] English owes the word malapropism to Mrs Malaprop, a character in Richard Sheridan’s play The Rivals 1775 whose grandiloquent impulses led her to use slightly (but ludicrously) the wrong word: amongst the most familiar of her errors are… …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • Malapropism —    This word entered the English language through the name of a character in The Rivals (1775), a play written by Englishman Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751 1816). The play introduced Mrs. Malaprop, an endearing late middle age woman given to… …   Dictionary of eponyms

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