Definition of catachresis Catachresis

cat•a•chre•sis

We found 6 definitions of catachresis from 5 different sources.

What does catachresis mean?

WordNet

Noun

Plural: catachresises

catachresis - strained or paradoxical use of words either in error (as `blatant' to mean `flagrant') or deliberately (as in a mixed metaphor: `blind mouths')

rhetorical device a use of language that creates a literary effect (but often without regard for literal significance)

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Wiktionary

catachresis (Noun)
A misuse of a word; an application of a term to something which it does not properly denote.
catachresis (Noun)
A misapplication or overextension of figurative or analogical description; a wrongly-applied metaphor or trope.

Webster DictionaryWebster's Unabridged Dictionary 📘

catachresis (n.)
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.

Chambers DictionaryChamber's 20th Century Dictionary 📕

catachresis
kat-a-krē′sis, n. (rhet.) a figure by which a word is used in a sense different from, yet analogous to, its own: a harsh or far-fetched metaphor.—adjs. Catachres′tic, -al.—adv. Catachres′tically. [L.,—Gr. katachrēsis, misuse.]