GetWiki

Antiphrasis is the rhetorical device of saying the opposite of what is actually meant in such a way that it is obvious what the true intention is.Bernard Dupriez, tr. Albert W. Halsall, A Dictionary of Literary Devices: Gradus, A–Z, {{ISBN|0802068030}}, pp. 49–50Some authors treat and use antiphrasis just as irony, euphemism or litotes.BOOK, Merry, Bruce,books.google.com/books?id=Q-lr20SuvfIC&dq=Greek+word+antiphrasis&pg=PA20, Encyclopedia of Modern Greek Literature, 2004, Greenwood Publishing Group, 978-0-313-30813-0, en, When the antiphrasal use is very common, the word can become an auto-antonym,NEWS, Rubio Hancock, Jaime, 19 autoantónimos: palabras que significan una cosa y la contraria,verne.elpais.com/verne/2016/08/23/articulo/1471965781_732292.html, 7 May 2023, Verne, Ediciones El País, 28 August 2016, es, Como explica Fundéu, a veces son el resultado de los usos irónicos y en ocasiones, de las antífrasis,, having opposite meanings depending on context.For example, Spanish WEB, Prieto García-Seco, David, Rinconete. Lengua. «Huésped» o significar una cosa y la contraria,cvc.cervantes.es/el_rinconete/anteriores/mayo_21/28052021_01.htm, cvc.cervantes.es, Centro Virtual Cervantes, 7 May 2023, es, 2021-05-28, originally meant “fortunate, blissful” as in , “fortunate land”, but it acquired the ironic and colloquial meaning of “infortunate, bothersome” as in , “Damned flies!”.

Etymology

Antiphrasis is a Greek word which means ‘opposite words’.WEB, 2014-05-09, Antiphrasis - Definition and Examples of Antiphrasis,literarydevices.net/antiphrasis/, 2021-04-04, Literary Devices, en-US, BOOK, Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham,books.google.com/books?id=0HYCAAAAQAAJ&dq=Greek+word+antiphrasis&pg=PA26, Etymological and Pronouncing Dictionary of Difficult Words, 1882, Ward, Lock, en,

Antiphrasis as euphemism

Some euphemisms are antiphrasis, such as “Eumenides” ‘the gracious ones’ to mean the Erinyes, deities of vengeance.

Examples

• “Take your time, we’ve got all day”, meaning “hurry up, we don’t have all day”.
• “Come into my parlour, said the spider to the fly” appears to be an invitation, but is in fact a threat.
• “Tell me about it”, in the sense of “don’t bother, I already know”.
• “Great!”, an exclamation uttered when something unpleasant had happened or is about to happen.

See also

• Irony
• Litotes
• Sarcasm
• Satire

Notes

{{Figures of speech}}