catachreses

Noun

catachresis (countable and uncountable, plural catachreses)

1. A misuse of a word; an application of a term to something which it does not properly denote.
2. (especially, often) Such a misuse involving some similarity of sound between the misused word and the appropriate word.
   • Near-synonym: malapropism (precisely hyponymous, in which sense only absurd and laughable catachreses are malapropisms)

   Synonyms:

   malapropism[Appendix:Glossary

3. (rhetoric) A misapplication or overextension of a figurative or analogical description; a wrongly applied metaphor or trope.
   • A Catachresis terms abused receives,
     And epithets and attributes improper gives.1835, L[arret] Langley, “[The Seven Tropes.] Catachresis.”, in A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster, South Yorkshire: […] C. White, […], →OCLC, page 14

   Synonyms:

   abusio