Misuse or abuse of words; the use of the wrong word for the context, as atone for repent, ingenuous for ingenious, or a forced trope in which a word is used too far removed from its true meaning, as "loud aroma" or "velvet beautiful to the touch " (See also Enallage, Malapropism, Mixed Metaphor, Oxymoron, Paradox, Solecism, Synesthesia)
A figure by which one word is wrongly put for another, or by which a word is wrested from its true signification; as, "To take arms against a sea of troubles"
harsh metaphor involving the use of a word beyond its normal function, usually incorrectly See also: metaphor
() From Latin catachrēsis, from Ancient Greek κατάχρησις (katakhrēsis, “misuse (of a word)”), from καταχρῆσθαι (katakhrēsthai, “to misuse”), from κατά (kata, “pervertedly”) + χρῆσθαι (khrēsthai, “to use”).