English Explanatory Dictionary

garden path sentence

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A sentence that is easily parsed incorrectly when first read, due to the ambiguity of a word or words.

Pronunciation

/ˈɡɑːdən pɑːθ ˈsɛntəns/ /ˈɡɑːɹdən pæθ ˈsɛntəns/ en-au-garden path sentence.ogg

Word forms

garden path sentence garden path sentences garden path garden-path sentence

Etymology

From the idiom lead someone up (or down) the garden path, because readers form an interpretation of the sentence which remains plausible until near the end of the sentence, at which point the readers realize that their interpretation cannot be right (they have been led up a garden path) and they must try another interpretation.

Related words

anacoluthon
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on G Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary