English Explanatory Dictionary

malapropism

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The blundering use of an absurdly inappropriate word or expression in place of a similar-sounding one.
  2. An instance of this; malaprop.
noun
  1. Rare form of malapropism.

Pronunciation

/ˈmæləpɹɒpˌɪzəm/ mălʹə-prä-pĭzʹ-əm /ˈmæləpɹɑpˌɪzəm/ en-us-malapropism.ogg

Word forms

malapropism malapropisms malapropoism

Etymology

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.

Synonyms

malaprop catachresis

Related words

examples of malapropisms acyrologia eggcorn folk etymology misnomer mondegreen phantonym spoonerism

Derived words

malaphor malapropic
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 M Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary