Synonyms and antonyms of Types of phrase or expression in British Thesaurus

adage (noun)

a well-known phrase that says something about life and human experience

aphorism (noun)

a short statement that says something wise and true

axiom (noun)

a statement that is generally believed to be obvious or true

battle cry (noun)

a phrase or idea that a person or organization uses to encourage people to think or behave in a particular way, especially in politics

binomial (noun)

linguistics a phrase containing two nouns that are joined together by a conjunction and always appear in the same order, for example ‘cup and saucer’

catchphrase (noun)

a short phrase that many people know because a famous person often says it

cheer (noun)

a phrase or short poem that people at a sports event in the US shout to encourage their team

citation (noun)

a phrase or sentence taken from a piece of writing or speech

cite (noun)

mainly Americaninformal a citation

cliché (noun)

a phrase or idea that is boring because people use it a lot and it is no longer original

dictum (noun)

an expression or statement that people often repeat because it says something interesting or wise about a subject

figure of speech (noun)

an expression in which the words are used figuratively, not in their normal literal meaning

idiom (noun)

linguistics an expression whose meaning is different from the meaning of the individual words. For example, ‘to have your feet on the ground’ is an idiom meaning ‘to be sensible’.

maxim (noun)

a phrase or saying that includes a rule or moral principle about how you should behave

mondegreen (noun)

a phrase in a song or poem that someone hears wrongly and thinks that a different phrase is being sung or said. For example, in the song ’Purple Haze’ by Jimi Hendrix, the listener, hearing ’Scuse me while I kiss the sky’, might think they are hearing ’Scuse me while I kiss this guy’.

oxymoron (noun)

an expression that contains words with opposite meanings, for example ‘a bitter sweet experience’ (=an experience that is both unpleasant and pleasant)

phrase (noun)

linguistics a group of words that are used together in a fixed expression

proverb (noun)

a short well-known statement that gives practical advice about life

refrain (noun)

a phrase or an idea that is often repeated

saying (noun)

a well-known statement about what often happens in life

simile (noun)

the use of similes

snowclone (noun)

a type of phrase that has a standard pattern in which some of the words can be freely replaced; for example, the pattern 'X is the new Y' can become 'Navy is the new black' or 'Comedy is the new rock 'n' roll' or 'Staying in is the new going out', and so on

tautology (noun)

a statement, sentence etc in which the meaning is repeated in an unnecessary way by using different words

turn of phrase ()

an expression