wikipedia
English
Noun
en-noun|sg=set phrase
- grammar A common expression whose wording is not subject to variation.
#*1951, Gordon M. Messing, "Structuralism and Literary Tradition," Language, vol. 27, no. 1, p. 3,
#*:Bally remarks in passing, as Hall does not, that the inversion in toujours est-il que is part of a set phrase and hence invariable.
- grammar A common expression whose words cannot be replaced by synonymous words without compromise|compromising the meaning.
#*1992, Stanislaw Baranczak, "How to Translate Shakespeare's Humor?: (Reflections of a Polish Translator)," Performing Arts Journal, vol. 14, no. 3, p. 83,
#*:If it proves clearly unfeasible to make the audience laugh at a thin and far-fetched joke, it is always better to change the way the joke works . . . for instance, a pun based on the speaker's taking literally some set phrase or metaphor with a pun based on phonetic similarity.
See also
catch phrase
cliche
colloquialism
idiom
References
"set phrase" in Compact Oxford English Dictionary, © Oxford University Press, 2007.
"set phrase" in the Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
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