Other forms: phrases, phrasing, phrased
A phrase is a small group of words that work together as a unit. Not a full sentence — a piece of one.
Grammar uses it precisely, so a noun phrase and a verb phrase are the building blocks of a sentence. Everyday use is looser and means any memorable expression, which is where a well-turned phrase and a stock phrase come from. Music has phrases too, meaning a short musical unit that breathes as a whole. The verb means to word something in a particular way, and phrasing is the choice made.
1nounphraseA group of words forming a unit within a sentence.
“He kept repeating the same phrase.”
2verbexpressTo express something in a particular way.
“She phrased the refusal very carefully.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
A phrase is a manner of expression: Greek phrasis, from phrazein, to tell or to point out. The word is about how something is said rather than what is said.
Ancient Greek
φράσις — manner of expression
Latin
phrasis — diction
English, today
phrase
Built from
Latin phrasis (“diction”), from Ancient Greek φράσις (“manner of expression”), from φράζω (“to tell, express”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA