Paronomasia - Dictionary Definition and Overview

Paronomasia :  (noun)

1: a humorous play on words; "I do it for the pun of it"; "his constant punning irritated her" [syn: pun, punning, wordplay]

Based on WordNet 2.0

Paronomasia : \Par`o*no*ma"si*a\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? to form a word by a slight change; ? beside _ ? to name, fr. ? a name.] (Rhet.) A play upon words; a figure by which the same word is used in different senses, or words similar in sound are set in opposition to each other, so as to give antithetical force to the sentence; punning. --Dryden.

Based on WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003)
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