Antiphrasis

'''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.<ref name="dupriez">{{Cite book |last=Dupriez |first=Bernard Marie |title=A dictionary of literary devices: gradus, A-Z |date=1991 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-2756-6 |location=Toronto |pages=49–50 |translator-last=Halsall |translator-first=Albert W.}}</ref>

Some authors treat and use antiphrasis just as irony, euphemism or litotes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Merry |first=Bruce |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-lr20SuvfIC&dq=Greek+word+antiphrasis&pg=PA20 |title=Encyclopedia of Modern Greek Literature |date=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-30813-0 |language=en}}</ref>

When the antiphrasal use is very common, the word can become an auto-antonym,<ref name="Verne">{{Cite news |last=Rubio Hancock |first=Jaime |date=28 August 2016 |title=19 autoantónimos: palabras que significan una cosa y la contraria |url=https://verne.elpais.com/verne/2016/08/23/articulo/1471965781_732292.html |access-date=7 May 2023 |work=Verne |publisher=Ediciones El País |language=es |quote=Como explica Fundéu, a veces son el resultado de los usos irónicos y en ocasiones, de las antífrasis,}}</ref> having opposite meanings depending on context. For example, Spanish {{lang|es|dichoso}}<ref name="Prieto">{{Cite web |last=Prieto García-Seco |first=David |date=2021-05-28 |title=Rinconete. Lengua. «Huésped» o significar una cosa y la contraria |url=https://cvc.cervantes.es/el_rinconete/anteriores/mayo_21/28052021_01.htm |access-date=7 May 2023 |website=Centro Virtual Cervantes |language=es}}</ref> originally meant "fortunate, blissful" as in {{lang|es|tierra dichosa}}, "fortunate land", but it acquired the ironic and colloquial meaning of "infortunate, bothersome" as in {{lang|es|¡Dichosas moscas!}}, "Damned flies!".

== Etymology == Antiphrasis is a Greek word which means 'opposite words'.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-05-09 |title=Antiphrasis - Definition and Examples of Antiphrasis |url=https://literarydevices.net/antiphrasis/ |access-date=2021-04-04 |website=Literary Devices |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Brewer |first=Ebenezer Cobham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0HYCAAAAQAAJ&dq=Greek+word+antiphrasis&pg=PA26 |title=Etymological and Pronouncing Dictionary of Difficult Words |date=1882 |publisher=Ward, Lock, & Co. |location=London |language=en |page=26}}</ref>

==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". * "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.

==Notes== <references/>

Category:Figures of speech