noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Use of a word or phrase in a sense opposite of its literal meaning, especially for ironic or humorous effect. countable, rhetoric, uncountable

   "When they called him “bad as hell”, they weren’t calling him evil. It was antiphrasis."

2. 2
   the use of a word in a sense opposite to its normal sense (especially in irony) wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

barbarismcorruptionfigure of speechinfelicitymalapropismmetaphor

Example

More examples

"When they called him “bad as hell”, they weren’t calling him evil. It was antiphrasis."

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin antiphrasis, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀντίφρασις (antíphrasis) (< phrazein "declare").

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.