malapropism
nounEtymology
From the name of Mrs. Malaprop, a character in the play The Rivals (1775) by Richard Brinsley Sheridan + -ism. As dramatic characters in English comic plays of this time often had allusive names, it is likely that Sheridan fashioned the name from malapropos (“inappropriate; inappropriately”), from French mal à propos. Mrs. Malaprop is perhaps the best-known example of a familiar comedic character archetype who unintentionally substitutes inappropriate but like-sounding words that take on a ludicrous meaning when used incorrectly.
- derived from mal à propos
Definitions
The blundering use of an absurdly inappropriate word or expression in place of 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.
An instance of this
An instance of this; malaprop.
- The translator matched every malapropism in the original with one from his own language.
- The humor comes from all the malapropisms.
Rare form of malapropism.
- M. Jules Lemaître has reproached Shakespeare for his love of Malapropisms. Those of Dogberry and many of his other low comedy parts are highly diverting buffoonery.
The neighborhood
- neighborexamples of malapropisms
- neighboracyrologia
- neighboreggcorn
- neighborfolk etymology
- neighbormisnomer
- neighbormondegreen
- neighborphantonym
- neighborspoonerism
Derived
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for malapropism. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA