Phrase Meaning
/ˈfɹeɪ̯z/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA short written or spoken expression.
nounA word or, more commonly, a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence, always containing an expressed or implied head (the principal word or subgroup, with core importance) and often consisting of a head plus some other elaborating words.
Sentence Examples
The phrase is meant to insult people.
How is this phrase to be interpreted?
You can omit the preposition in this phrase.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The teacher asked the student to underline the key ____ in the given sentence.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She struggled to find the right ____ to express how grateful she felt for all the support.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Late Latin phrasis (“diction”), from Ancient Greek φράσις (phrásis, “manner of expression”), from φράζω (phrázō, “to tell, express”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Congratulations on managing to use the phrase “preponderant criterion” in a chart (“On your marks”, November 9th). Was this the work of a kakorrhaphiophobic journalist set a challenge by his colleagues, or simply an example of glossolalia?"
— 2013 November 30, Paul Davis, “Letters: Say it as simply as possible”, in The Economist, volume 409, number 8864:
"There is always a head in a phrase. When it is not accompanied by anything else, we have a one-word phrase. Cheese can be an NP [noun phrase], and so can squid. If we didn't allow one-word phrases, we'd often have to say "either a noun or an NP," "either a verb or a VP," and so on. When I talk about a phrase, always remember that I don't mean a unit containing more than one word; I mean a unit with at least one word (the head), which may contain other words as well."
— 2024, Geoffrey K. Pullum, The Truth About English Grammar, Polity Press, →ISBN, page 12:
"Thou speak'st / In better phrase and matter than thou didst."
— c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi]:
"[…] From out a common vein of memory / Sweet household talk, and phrases of the hearth, […]"
— 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part II”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 39:
"These suns — for so they phrase 'em."
— 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The teacher asked the student to underline the key ____ in the given sentence.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She struggled to find the right ____ to express how grateful she felt for all the support.