n.
- a small group of words standing together as a conceptual unit.
▸an idiomatic or short pithy expression.
- Music a group of notes forming a distinct unit within a longer passage.
v.
- put into a particular form of words.
-
[often as noun phrasing]
divide (music) into phrases in a particular way.
Phrase
- turn of phrase
a particular or characteristic manner of expression.
Derivative
- phrasal adj.
- phrasally adv.
Etymology
C16: via late L. from Gk phrasis, from phrazein ‘declare, tell’.