catachrèse
\ka.ta.kʁɛz\
The verdict
“catachrèse” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Figure de style qui consiste à détourner un mot de son sens propre en étendant sa signification : le pied d'une table, être à cheval sur une chaise, les ailes du moulin, la plume d’un stylo, les de...
Corpus desk
Index FR-catachrese · catachrèse · French
catachrèse · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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 | catachrèse |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ka.ta.kʁɛz\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « catachrèse » en français
Rare enough to double-check
catachrèse is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ka.ta.kʁɛz\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
catachrèse has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is catachrèse, spelled C-A-T-A-C-H-R-È-S-E.
Definition
- 1Figure de style qui consiste à détourner un mot de son sens propre en étendant sa signification : le pied d'une table, être à cheval sur une chaise, les ailes du moulin, la plume d’un stylo, les dents d’une scie. C'est « une métaphore dont l'usage est si courant qu'elle n'est plus sentie comme telle ».
- 2Action de sauver une dissonance d’une manière dure, inusitée.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how catachrèse appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Il se souvint tout à coup d'une vieille chronique où il avait, pour flétrir, stigmatiser, juvénaliser les comportements bourgeois, […] projeté le feu rouge des catachrèses les plus imprévues, des synecdoches les plus arbitraires, des antonomases les plus follement tirées par les cheveux, […].
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.