set phrase
Stock verbal formula
A set phrase is a fixed expression whose words appear together by convention rather than logic: by and large, at the end of the day, in lieu of.
The components can't be rearranged or substituted without destroying the phrase—you can't say "large and by" or "in place of" and mean the same thing.
Set phrases are learned whole, like vocabulary items.
- sayingShort, wise expression
- formulaic languageConventional phrases used verbatim
- proverbTraditional saying expressing truth
- catchphraseSignature line of words
- collocationConventional phrase pattern
cliché · dead metaphor · idiom · figure of speech · aphorism · locution · chunk · expression · slogan · memorized · understatement · formal speech · boilerplate · colloquialism · hyperbole · adage · rote · word for word
- clichescliche, platitude, bromide, trite saying, old chestnut
- expressionsexpression, I love you, idioms, thank you, I'm sorry
- stock phrasescliche, catchphrase, platitude, saying, idiom
- linguistic unitsword, morpheme, phoneme, grapheme, syllable
- language termsgrammar, word, vocabulary, syntax, synonym
- proverbsproverbs, sayings, maxims, adages, aphorisms