The difference between Catachresis and Malapropism

When used as nouns, catachresis means a misuse of a word, whereas malapropism means the blundering use of an absurdly inappropriate word or expression in place of a similar-sounding one.


check bellow for the other definitions of Catachresis and Malapropism

  1. Catachresis as a noun (often, especially):

    A misuse of a word; an application of a term to something which it does not properly denote. Such a misuse involving some similarity of sound between the misused word and the appropriate word.

  2. Catachresis as a noun (rhetoric):

    A misapplication or overextension of figurative or analogical description; a wrongly-applied metaphor or trope.

  1. Malapropism as a noun (uncountable):

    The blundering use of an absurdly inappropriate word or expression in place of a similar-sounding one.

    Examples:

    "The script employed malapropism to great effect."

  2. Malapropism as a noun (countable):

    An instance of this; malaprop.

    Examples:

    "The translator matched every malapropism in the original with one from his own language."

    "The humor comes from all the malapropisms."

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