malaprop

mal·a·prop

using or characterized by malapropisms

also mal·a·prop′i·an

Origin of malaprop

after Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Sheridan's play The Rivals, who makes ludicrous blunders in her use of words

malapropism (sense )

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"malaprop." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/malaprop>.

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malaprop. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/malaprop

malaprop

noun

A malapropism.

Origin of malaprop

After Mrs. Malaprop , a character in The Rivals, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan from malapropos

Word History: “She's as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile” and “He is the very pineapple of politeness” are two of the absurd pronouncements from Mrs. Malaprop that made her name synonymous with ludicrous misuse of language. A character in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play The Rivals (1775), Mrs. Malaprop habitually uses words that are malapropos—that is, inappropriate, as in allegory for alligator and pineapple for pinnacle. She makes some of her most outrageous blunders while boasting of her eloquence: “If I reprehend any thing in this world, it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!” For such memorable abuses of the language, Mrs. Malaprop has been enshrined in the words malaprop and malapropism.

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.