- a group of words that have a particular meaning when used together
- a memorable/catchy phrase
- ‘Start slowly’ is the key phrase for the first-time marathon runner.
- She was, in her own favourite phrase, ‘a woman without a past’.
- colourful words and phrases
Extra Examples- He just comes out with the same old stock phrases.
- Her unfortunate choice of phrase offended most of the audience.
- In 1998, he trademarked the phrase ‘Freedom of Expression’.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- colloquial
- idiomatic
- key
- …
- employ
- turn
- use
- …
- book
- in a/the phrase
- a choice of phrase
- a turn of phrase
- (grammar) a small group of words (usually without a finite verb) that together have a particular meaning and that typically form part of a sentence. ‘the green car’ and ‘on Friday morning’ are phrases.
- a two-word phrase
Synonyms wordwordterm ▪ phrase ▪ expression ▪ idiomThese are all words for a unit of language used to express something.word a single unit of language that means something and can be spoken or written:see also noun phraseTopics Languagea1- Do not write more than 200 words.
- He uses a lot of long words.
- technical/legal/scientific terms
- ‘Old man’ is a slang term for ‘father’.
- Who coined the phrase ‘fake news’?
- He tends to use a lot of slang expressions that I’ve never heard before.
- ‘Let the cat out of the bag’ is an idiom meaning to tell a secret by mistake.
- a word/term for something
- a new word/term/phrase/expression
- a technical/colloquial word/term/phrase/expression
- a slang word/term/phrase
- an idiomatic phrase/expression
- to use a(n) word/term/phrase/expression/idiom
- to coin a(n) word/term/phrase/expression
- a(n) word/term/phrase/expression/idiom means something
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- colloquial
- idiomatic
- key
- …
- employ
- turn
- use
- …
- book
- in a/the phrase
- a choice of phrase
- a turn of phrase
- (music) a short series of notes that form a unit within a longer passage in a piece of music
Word Originmid 16th cent. (in the sense ‘style or manner of expression’): via late Latin from Greek phrasis, from phrazein ‘declare, tell’.
Idioms
See phrase in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee phrase in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishto coin a phrase
- used to introduce a well-known expression that you have changed slightly in order to be funny
- Tasting is believing, to coin a phrase! (= the usual phrase is ‘seeing is believing’).
- used to show that you are aware that you are using an expression that is not new
- Oh well, no news is good news, to coin a phrase.
a turn of phrase
- a particular way of describing something
- He is meticulous in his choice of words and turns of phrase.
Check pronunciation:
phrase