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Malapropism
Definitions
- 1 The blundering use of an absurdly inappropriate word or expression in place of a similar-sounding one. uncountable
"The script employed malapropism to great effect."
- 2 Rare form of malapropism. form-of, rare
"M. Jules Lemaître has reproached Shakespeare for his love of Malapropisms. Those of Dogberry and many of his other low comedy parts are highly diverting buffoonery."
- 3 the unintentional misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar wordnet
- 4 An instance of this; malaprop. countable
"The translator matched every malapropism in the original with one from his own language."
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.
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