Paraphrase

How to spell paraphrase

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce paraphrase

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does paraphrase mean?

1. verbTo restate the meaning of a passage or statement using different words.
2. nounA restatement of a text or passage that expresses its meaning in different words.

Paraphrase in a sentence

• verb

  The report asked us to paraphrase the policy in plain language.

• noun

  The editor added a short paraphrase to clarify the dense legal clause.

• verb

  Rather than quote the contract directly, the lawyer chose to paraphrase its key terms.

• noun

  Her summary was a loose paraphrase of the original speech.

Where does paraphrase come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word descends from the Greek paraphrasis, which meant a way of telling something afresh. It was built from para-, meaning 'beside' or 'alongside', and phrazein, the verb 'to tell, point out, or declare'. The literal idea was therefore a telling that runs alongside the original, a restatement set next to the source. Greek passed it into Latin as paraphrasis, and English borrowed it in the middle of the sixteenth century, partly through French paraphrase. The same phrazein root gives us the everyday word 'phrase', which explains why paraphrase keeps that 'ph' spelling for its 'f' sound rather than a plain letter f.

How the word is built

• para- (beside, alongside)
• phrase (from Greek phrazein: to tell, declare)