phrases

Noun

phrase (plural phrases)

1. A short written or spoken expression.
   • I've made progress, but this is still, in Churchill's phrase, just "the end of the beginning."
2. A word or, more commonly, a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence, always containing an expressed or implied head (the principal word or subgroup, with core importance) and often consisting of a head plus some other elaborating words.
   • Holonyms: clause, sentence; phrasing, phraseology, turn of phrase; phrase-book; document, message; language; communication
3. A small section of music in a larger piece.
4. (archaic) A mode or form of speech; diction; expression.
   • Thou speak'st / In better phrase and matter than thou didst.c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

   Synonyms:

   figure of speech, locution

5. A short individual motion forming part of a choreographed dance.

See all 8 meanings of phrase