catachresis n : strained or paradoxical use of words either in error (as `blatant' to mean `flagrant') or deliberately (as in a mixed metaphor: `blind mouths')

English

Etymology

From catachresis, from , from ‘to misuse’, from + ‘to use’.

Pronunciation

/kætəˈkɹiːsɪs/

Noun

1. The misuse of words; applying a term to something which it should not properly desribe.

Translations

Catachresis (from Greek ), which literally means the incorrect or improper use of a word -- such as using the word decimate (e.g., "they were severely decimated") mistakenly for devastated -- is a term used to denote the (usually intentional) use of any figure of speech that flagrantly violates the norms of a language community. Compare malapropism.

Common forms of catachresis are:

• Using a word to denote something radically different from its normal meaning.

'Tis deepest winter in Lord Timon's purse – Shakespeare, Timon of Athens

• Using a word to denote something for which, without the catachresis, there is no actual name.

"a table's leg"

• Using a word out of context.

'Can't you hear that? Are you blind?'

• Using paradoxical or contradictory logic.
• Creating an illogical mixed metaphor.

"To take arms against a sea of troubles..." – Shakespeare, Hamlet

Arguably, however, this is perhaps neither a catachresis nor a mixed metaphor. In context, Hamlet is pondering futility: faced with a sea of troubles, taking up a sword and shield is not going to have an effect on the oncoming wave. In this sense, the quotation is a straightforward metaphor, albeit interpretable as a catachresis.

Catachresis is often used to convey extreme emotion or alienation, and is prominent in baroque literature and, more recently, in the avant-garde.

See also

• Figure of speech
• Rhetoric
• Audio illustrations of catachresis

References

• Greek Grammar