Word.ws English Dictionary

multi-word expression

multi-word expression noun: a lexeme-like unit made up of a sequence of two or more words that has properties that are not predictable from the properties of the individual words or their normal mode of combination, such as an idiom ("pay the piper"), a phrasal noun ("steam iron"), a phrasal preposition ("in front of"), or a phrasal verb ("buy off").

Noun

multi-word expression (plural multi-word expressions)

  1. A lexeme-like unit made up of a sequence of two or more words that has properties that are not predictable from the properties of the individual words or their normal mode of combination, such as an idiom ("pay the piper"), a phrasal noun ("steam iron"), a phrasal preposition ("in front of"), or a phrasal verb ("buy off").
    Synonyms:
    MWE, polynym

Synonyms of multi-word expression

Antonyms

Forms of multi-word expression

pluralmulti-word expressions
alternative formmultiword expression

Questions about multi-word expression

What does multi-word expression mean?
Multi-word expression means a lexeme-like unit made up of a sequence of two or more words that has properties that are not predictable from the properties of the individual words or their normal mode of combination, such as an idiom ("pay the piper"), a phrasal noun ("steam iron"), a phrasal preposition ("in front of"), or a phrasal verb ("buy off").
What part of speech is multi-word expression?
Multi-word expression is a noun.
What is the plural of multi-word expression?
The plural of multi-word expression is multi-word expressions.

Words near multi-word expression in the dictionary

  1. multi-vari charts
  2. multi-voltage
  3. multi-wavelength
  4. multi-week
  5. multi-word
  6. multi-word expression
  7. multi-word expressions
  8. multi-world
  9. multi-year
  10. multiaccess
  11. multiaccount

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: multi-word expression (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “multi-word expression.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/multi-word_expression. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.