Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Word play; punning.
- noun A pun.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In rhetoric, the use of words similar in sound but different in meaning, so as to give a certain antithetical force to the expression; also, the use of the same word in different senses; a play upon words. Also
paronomasy . seepun . - noun Synonyms Assonance, etc. See
pun .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Rhet.) A play upon words; a figure by which the same word is used in different senses, or words similar in sound are set in opposition to each other, so as to give antithetical force to the sentence; punning.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun rhetoric A
pun or play on words
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a humorous play on words
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I'm sitting here trying to decide whether a particular specimen of paronomasia is to be considered polyptoton or antanaclasis.
Archive 2008-02-01 Prof. de Breeze 2008
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I'm sitting here trying to decide whether a particular specimen of paronomasia is to be considered polyptoton or antanaclasis.
I love the classical roots of education, but... Prof. de Breeze 2008
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I'm reviewing important terms, including "paronomasia," which is the cocktail party word for "pun."
Archive 2007-02-01 Bardiac 2007
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More than most linguistic modes, such as paronomasia and malapropism, quasi malediction has diametric force.
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But then again, Tom Stoppard (who cowrote the film with Terry Gilliam) always seemed to prefer paronomasia to his fellow men anyway.
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Warden, “grounded on a vain play upon words — a most idle paronomasia.”
The Monastery 2008
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Lane held the poetry untranslatable because abounding in the figure Tajnís, our paronomasia or paragram, of which there are seven distinct varieties,433 not to speak of other rhetorical flourishes.
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Scrotes allowed, nevertheless, there was something in what MacMurrough had said and by way of illustrating this allowance he quoted from Augustine who had polluted the vein of friendship with the filth of desire—a phrase, Scrotes remarked, which would mean nothing to the Greeks, for whom friendship and desire were congenial if MacMurrough would forgive the paronomasia bedfellows.
At Swim, Two Boys Jamie O’Neill 2002
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Scrotes allowed, nevertheless, there was something in what MacMurrough had said and by way of illustrating this allowance he quoted from Augustine who had polluted the vein of friendship with the filth of desire—a phrase, Scrotes remarked, which would mean nothing to the Greeks, for whom friendship and desire were congenial if MacMurrough would forgive the paronomasia bedfellows.
At Swim, Two Boys Jamie O’Neill 2002
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[869] A paronomasia on [Greek: genesis] as if [Greek: epi gên neusis].
Plutarch's Morals 46-120? Plutarch
hernesheir commented on the word paronomasia
cf. paronomasy
January 1, 2009
ofravens commented on the word paronomasia
Astonished that I didn't learn this word until today.
March 1, 2009
mollusque commented on the word paronomasia
No mas.
March 1, 2009
Telofy commented on the word paronomasia
Sorry, this paronomasia is puny.
(By the way, why is the plural paronomasias, not paronomasiae?)
October 25, 2009
jmjarmstrong commented on the word paronomasia
JM often has paronomasia experiences - sometimes even out of context experiences!
March 10, 2010
knitandpurl commented on the word paronomasia
"The riddle that Lenehan the sports reporter proposes to his colleagues and friends at the newspaper, the Cicerone said—"What opera resembles a railway line?"—is remembered by Bloom on several occasions throughout the day of Ulysses.
A few paragraphs further on, in the newspaper office, Lenehan proudly tells them the answer:
"The Rose of Castile. See the wheeze? Rows of cast steel. Gee!"
Railing at the rails, A said.
Paronomasia, Professor Jones said."
The House of Ulysses by Julián Ríos, translated by Nick Caistor, pp 105-106
December 26, 2010