PHRASE


Meaning of PHRASE in English

(~s, phrasing, ~d)

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.

1.

A ~ is a short group of words that people often use as a way of saying something. The meaning of a ~ is often not obvious from the meaning of the individual words in it.

He used a ~ I hate: ‘You have to be cruel to be kind.’

N-COUNT

2.

A ~ is a small group of words which forms a unit, either on its own or within a sentence.

It is impossible to hypnotise someone simply by saying a particular word or ~.

N-COUNT

3.

If you ~ something in a particular way, you express it in words in that way.

I would have ~d it quite differently...

They ~d it as a question.

VERB: V n adv, V n as n

4.

If someone has a particular turn of ~, they have a particular way of expressing themselves in words.

...Schwarzkopf’s distinctive turn of ~.

to coin a ~: see coin

PHRASE: N inflects

Collins COBUILD.      Толковый словарь английского языка для изучающих язык Коллинз COBUILD (международная база данных языков Бирмингемского университета) .