coin a phrase
Create new idiom
To coin a phrase is to create a new expression that enters common use.
The phrase often appears ironically before a cliché or well-worn saying: We were, to coin a phrase, between a rock and a hard place.
Used straight, it introduces genuinely original wording: She coined the phrase "toxic masculinity" in her 1990 paper.
- originateTo come into existence
- deviseCreate through ingenuity
- formulateCreate methodically
- neologismNewly created expression
- catchphraseSignature line of words
voice · put into words · invent · nonce word · mint · craft · terminology · so to speak · idiom · portmanteau · slang · buzzword · jargon · wordsmithing · mouth · word of mouth · forge · proverb