Meaning of phrase | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A short written or spoken expression.
2. sentence
3. A word or, more commonly, a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence, always containing an expressed or implied head (the principal word or subgroup, with core importance) and often consisting of a head plus some other elaborating words.
4. A small section of music in a larger piece.
5. A mode or form of speech; diction; expression.
   archaic
6. A short individual motion forming part of a choreographed dance.

Equivalents

Examples

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

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

“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?”

“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.”

“Thou speak'st / In better phrase and matter than thou didst.”

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

CEFR level