phraseological

The student uses a phraseological dictionary to understand the unique expressions of the language.

Definition

Adjective: Relating to or characteristic of phraseology, which is the particular choice and arrangement of words and phrases in speech or writing, especially as used in a specific field, language, or individual style.

Usage Examples

• (The specific words and phrases the author selects indicate a formal style used in scholarly writing.)
• (The dictionary explains how words are typically combined into set expressions and collocations.)

Advanced Usage

• "phraseological unit": a fixed expression or multi-word combination, such as an idiom or collocation.
  • "Kick the bucket" is a phraseological unit meaning "to die." (It is a set phrase whose meaning cannot be deduced from the individual words.)

Variants and Related Words

• Phraseology (noun): the study or use of set phrases and expressions; the way words are put together.
  • His phraseology was full of technical jargon. (His choice of words was heavily specialized.)
• Phraseological (adverb form is rare; typically replaced by "in terms of phraseology").
  • The text is analyzed phraseologically. (The text is examined for its patterns of word combinations.)

Synonyms

• Idiomatic: relating to expressions whose meaning is not predictable from the individual words.
• Collocational: concerning the habitual co-occurrence of words.
• Lexical: relating to the vocabulary or words of a language.

Related Idioms

• "Set phrase": a fixed expression that is commonly used.
  • "By and large" is a set phrase meaning "in general." (It is a phraseological unit because its words are fixed together.)

Phrasal Verbs

Note: "Phraseological" is an adjective and does not combine with prepositions to form phrasal verbs. Instead, it modifies nouns describing linguistic features.