Metaphasis
//məˈtæfəsɪs// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The accidental transposition of part of the sounds of two words in a phrase; the production of spoonerisms. uncountable
"'Oxford's great metaphasiarch', as Punch once called him, was seldom guilty of metaphasis, or the transposition of sounds. What he transposed was ideas."
- 2 Alternative form of metaphase. alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable
"The sister chromatid exchange (SCE) assay measures the drug-induced metaphasis SCE."
- 3 Alternative form of metaphysis. alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable
"There is abrupt lateral bending of the medial cortex wall of the proximal tibial metaphasis and, in the older child, deformity and retarded development of the ipsilateral epiphyseal plateau68"
Example
More examples"'Oxford's great metaphasiarch', as Punch once called him, was seldom guilty of metaphasis, or the transposition of sounds. What he transposed was ideas."
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.