Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1800-1900
Origin: Mrs Malaprop character who uses words wrongly in the play The Rivals (1775) by Richard Sheridan, from French mal à propos 'not appropriate'

malapropism

 noun
     
mal‧a‧prop‧is‧m [countable] literary
an amusing mistake that you make when you use a word that sounds similar to the word you intended to say but means something completely different
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary