Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Ludicrous misuse of a word, especially by confusion with one of similar sound.
- n. An example of such misuse.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act or habit of misapplying words through an ambition to use fine language.
- n. A word so misapplied.
Wiktionary
- n. The blundering use of an absurdly inappropriate word or expression in place of a similar sounding one.
- n. An instance of this; malaprop.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A grotesque misuse of a word; a word so used.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the unintentional misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar
Etymologies
- From malaprop.
Examples
“Did you ever wonder where the word malapropism came from?”
“a type of slip of the ear in which people mishear a word and mispronounce it, then insist that the malapropism is correct.”
“Mr. STARR: It's called a malapropism, John used to say.”
“And it features the kind of malapropism-prone character who says “Toblerone” when he means “testosterone.””
London Theater Journal: Hitting Bottom - ArtsBeat Blog - NYTimes.com
“Two: a few days ago was the first anniversary of linguist Geoff Pullum's coining of the term 'eggcorns', a particular kind of malapropism that appears linguistically significant because it involves a switch to a wrong, but logical, alternative that is rapidly and widely assimilated into general language.”
“The explanation behind House File 2028 says it would correct a "malapropism" in the legal description.”
“Indeed, the oft-repeated malapropism of "refudiate" seems to cover it quite well.”
The Huffington Post: Randall Amster: First Amendment Remedies: Hey, Sarah, Refudiate This
“To quote my late father Sol, the master of the malapropism, I say to these Republican dummies...”
The Huffington Post: Andy Ostroy: When Did the Truth Become "Gotcha" Journalism?
“Even as a malapropism it reflects the way the chief connotation of epicureanism has changed from pleasure to sensual pleasure to gustatory pleasure.”
“As former Yankees catcher and New York Mets manager Yogi Berra, the master of the malapropism, famously said, "It's deja vu all over again. . .”
The Huffington Post: Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray Battle In Australian Open 2012 Semifinals
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘malapropism’.
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Interpreters' Speak
team sheet, pivot language, team leader, mini-plenary, plenary week, mission order, AIC colleague, SCIC, mission, mike, adding a new lang..., language booth and 498 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Iaan
dirigisme, dystopia, cacotopia, ex ante, veritable, indefatigable, curmudgeon, desultory, antediluvian, transmogrify, pendent, elongate and 136 more...
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Verbal Blunders
Speech errors and speech disfluencies
boner, gaffe, malapropism, Freudian slip, blooper, speech disfluency, phonological anti..., phonological pers..., gibberish, repetition, blend, slip of the tongue and 17 more...
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-ism's -logies
acosmism, absurdism, absolutism, ableism, aestheticism, alarmism, allotheism, anachronism, animalculism, analogism, animatism, animism and 464 more...
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#faveword
Words chosen as favorites for the Twitter hashtag #faveword.
autumnal, grotto, chiaroscuro, sfumato, homunculus, zing, zest, effervescent, bewitch, avuncular, susurrus, Styrofoam and 205 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 414 more...
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Mistakes Were Made
scanno, typo, catachresis, spoonerism, lapsus linguae, lapsus calami, mispronunciation, faux pas, friendly fire, erratum, divorce, mea culpa and 19 more...
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Slam Fodder
Those words that will inevitable end up in a Slam Poem
feel free to challenge me!:)bumptious, gamekeeper, slamily, burbuliatorius, cryptomnesia, paradox, pulchritudinous, mimetic, anhedonia, skelf, rampike, furlough and 84 more...
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starters
Random words, non-words
conunderer, phenomenology, vicissitudes, eugenics, hermaneutics, deconstruction, existential, mitlaufer, qubits, panpsychism, decoherence, analogous and 6 more...
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You Don't Say
Language disorders, disabilities, and unusual demonstrations.
aphasia, aphonia, dysarthria, glossolalia, paraphasia, apraxia, alexia, polymicrogyria, logorrhea, stutter, spoonerism, freudian slip and 22 more...
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Vocabulary Workout
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Hapax Legomenon
For those special words that we only seem to use once in a lifetime..
hapax legomenon, schadenfreude, malapropism, ipso facto, carte blanche, tautology, pleonasm, reductio ad absurdum
PossibleUnderscore Bottom, from A Midsummer Night's Dream is famous for numerous amusing malapropisms. Jul 26, 2009
ecbrenner "Malapropisms are words that, because they are used incorrectly, produce a humorous effect. The term derives from the character Mrs. Malaprop in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play 'The Rivals' (1775). Mrs. Malaprop loves big words, but she uses them ignorantly to create hilarious solecisms and occasionally embarrassing double entendres. One of Mrs. Malaprop's famous similes is 'as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile.' -- Bryan A. Garner, Garner's Modern American Usage Jan 29, 2009
skipdivided "We need a few laughs to break up the monogamy." Oct 6, 2007
amagnano From dictionary.com:
Mrs. Malaprop, a character in an eighteenth-century British comedy, The Rivals, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, constantly confuses words. Malapropisms are named after her. Dec 11, 2006