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Antiphrasis

//ænˈtɪfrəsɪs// noun

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

Etymology

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

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