PARAPHRASE


Meaning of PARAPHRASE in English

I. ˈparəˌfrāz also ˈper- noun

( -s )

Etymology: Middle French, from Latin paraphrasis, from Greek, from paraphrazein to paraphrase (from para- para- (I) + phrazein to point out, show, tell) + -sis

1.

a. : a restatement of a text, passage, or work giving the meaning in another form usually for clearer and fuller exposition : a free rendering

a paraphrase of eternal vigilance is the price of freedom — O.W.Holmes †1935

plays which are not paraphrases from the Greek — John Buchan

— opposed to metaphrase

b. : the use or process of paraphrasing in studying or teaching composition

such subjects as précis, paraphrase , punctuation — English Language Teaching

paraphrase , which aims rather at recapturing the general impression of a foreign work — Times LiterarySupplement

2. : a free or florid musical transcription

a paraphrase of an ancient Gregorian Dies Irae — Time

3. : an exemplification or an amplification of a theme, idea, or motive

4. : any of the verses based on passages of Scripture and commonly printed along with the metrical version of the Psalms used in Scottish Presbyterian churches

II. verb

( -ed/-ing/-s )

Etymology: French paraphraser, from Middle French, from paraphrase, n.

transitive verb

: to express, interpret, or translate with latitude : give the meaning of (a work or passage) in other words : make a paraphrase of

paraphrases Descartes' famous sentence — Babette Deutsch

paraphrased some of the telegrams — Sir Winston Churchill

stories will have to be paraphrased by Mother — My Baby

work of paraphrasing the obscure into the … comprehensible — S.E.Hyman

intransitive verb

1. : to make a paraphrase

2. archaic : to comment or expand upon a topic

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.