catachresis

• catechresis, katachresis (both 17th century; obsolete)[1]

Learned borrowing from Latin catachrēsis, borrowed from Ancient Greek κατάχρησις (katákhrēsis, “misuse (of a word)”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkæt.əˈkɹiː.sɪs/

catachresis (countable and uncountable, plural catachreses)

1. A misuse of a word; an application of a term to something which it does not properly denote.[1]
   1. (often, especially) Such a misuse involving some similarity of sound between the misused word and the appropriate word.
2. (rhetoric) A misapplication or overextension of figurative or analogical description; a wrongly applied metaphor or trope.[1]
   • 1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, →OCLC, page 14:

     A Catachresis terms abused receives,
     And epithets and attributes improper gives.

• (misuse of a word, with similar sounds): malapropism (this word is sometimes used in a way hyponymic to catachresis, in which sense only absurd and laughable catachreses are malapropisms)
• ((rhetoric) bad metaphor or trope): abusio

• eggcorn
• misnomer (a word that is well-known to seem to refer to something other than its referent but is nonetheless usually correct)
• phantonym (a word that invites catachrestic use because of its sound or appearance)