Antiphrasis is a rhetorical figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used in a sense opposite to its literal or conventional meaning. The device operates by semantic inversion: the speaker selects a term whose dictionary definition directly contradicts the intended sense, relying on contextual cues and shared knowledge to signal the reversal. Persistence mechanism: antiphrasis survives through linguistic convention — it is codified in rhetorical handbooks, taught as a recognized device, and sustained by the ongoing practice of speakers who deploy it for ironic, humorous, or emphatic effect. Its boundaries are delimited by the contrast between surface literal meaning and contextually recovered opposite meaning; without that contrast, the device ceases to operate. [formal: antiphrasis | substrate: mind | horizon: a moment | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
antiphrasis
Antiphrasis is a rhetorical figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used in a sense opposite to its literal or conventional meaning. The device operates by semantic inversion: the speaker selects a term whose dictionary definition di…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A rhetorical figure in which words are used in a sense opposite to their literal meaning, producing a meaning that contrasts with the surface sense. It is a deliberate semantic inversion sustained through linguistic convention and taught as a recognized device in rhetoric and poetics.
Names and aliases
- antiphrasisen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrtfjde400049zhnv4xb5z4fINSTANCE_OF →
Antiphrasis IS a specific kind of figure of speech — it uses a word in a sense opposite to its proper meaning, typically for ironic effect (e.g. 'what a fine friend' when someone betrays you). Competent-speaker test passes: 'antiphrasis is a figure of speech.' Nearest kind is figure-of-speech, confirmed by the parallel acceptance of paraprosdokian INSTANCE_OF figure-of-speech.
- cms78tcq900wfa34cou8pgdf5INSTANCE_OF →
Law 9 test: is antiphrasis a specific kind of rhetorical figure? Yes — antiphrasis is 'a figure of speech using irony or sarcasm, employing a term in a sense opposite to its proper or usual one.' A competent speaker would call it 'a rhetorical figure.' Nearest kind.
- cmrmf7wqp001sd1nlgdko4rbiSERVES →
Law 8d: for whose sake? Antiphrasis is, by its accepted definition, 'a rhetorical figure of speech' operating by semantic inversion — the speaker relies on 'contextual cues and shared knowledge to signal the reversal,' which exists to land the intended (non-literal) sense with an audience. It is designed for the sake of rhetoric: conveying meaning through the gap between literal and intended sense, the same pinned sense accepted for irony SERVES rhetoric. Without a rhetorical audience-effect the inversion has no reason to exist.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 30, 2026, 2:45 AM UTC
- Content hash
- fb75aed8021cb5288f496691595b2a6aa4027d406e2606435bc7071bb2811884