malapropism
/ˈmæləpɹɒpˌɪzəm/
"malapropism" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“malapropism” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The blundering use of an absurdly inappropriate word or expression in place of a similar-sounding one.
Corpus desk
Index EN-malapropism · malapropism · English
malapropism · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "M" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | malapropism |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmæləpɹɒpˌɪzəm/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “malapropism” in English
Rare enough to double-check
malapropism is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈmæləpɹɒpˌɪzəm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for malapropism in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the name of Mrs. Malaprop, a character in the play The Rivals (1775) by Richard Brinsley Sheridan + -ism. As dramatic characters in English comic plays of this time often had allusive names, it is likely that Sheridan fashioned the name from malapropos… The correct English form is malapropism, spelled M-A-L-A-P-R-O-P-I-S-M.
Definition
- 1The blundering use of an absurdly inappropriate word or expression in place of a similar-sounding one.
- 2An instance of this; malaprop.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how malapropism appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The script employed malapropism to great effect.
The translator matched every malapropism in the original with one from his own language.
Etymology
From the name of Mrs. Malaprop, a character in the play The Rivals (1775) by Richard Brinsley Sheridan + -ism. As dramatic characters in English comic plays of this time often had allusive names, it is likely that Sheridan fashioned the name from malapropos (“inappropriate; inappropriately”), from French mal à propos. Mrs. Malaprop is perhaps the best-known example of a familiar comedic character archetype who unintentionally substitutes inappropriate but like-sounding words that take on a ludicrous meaning when used incorrectly.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.