antiphrasis
American Heritage Dictionary:
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an·tiph·ra·sis
(ăn-tĭf'rə-sĭs) 
n.
The use of a word or phrase in a sense contrary to its normal meaning for ironic or humorous effect, as in a mere babe of 40 years.
n.
The use of a word or phrase in a sense contrary to its normal meaning for ironic or humorous effect, as in a mere babe of 40 years.
[Late Latin, from Greek, from antiphrazein, to express by the opposite : anti-, anti- + phrazein, to speak; see phrase.]
Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms:
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antiphrasis
antiphrasis
Adjective: antiphrastic.
Poetry Glossary:
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Antiphrasis
The ironic or humorous use of words in a sense not in accord with their literal meaning, as in "a giant of three feet four inches."
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'antiphrasis'
- Devices, Techniques, and Elements - antiphrasis: irony; use of word or description to convey the opposite of its normal or literal meaning
- Rhetoric and Figures of Speech - antiphrasis: ironical description meant to convey impression opposite that normally conveyed by words used
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Antiphrasis
An antiphrasis (
/ænˈtɪfrəsɪs/; from the Greek: ἀντί, antí, "opposite" and φράσις, phrásis, "diction") is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used to mean the opposite of its usual sense, especially ironically.
Examples
Ptolemy IV of Egypt: "By some historians [ Ptolemy IV of Egypt] is said to have poisoned his father, whence he received the surname of Philopater, by antiphrasis." [1]
"It was a bold antiphrasis that gave such a vernal title [Greenland] to this birth-place of icebergs."[2]
See also
References
- ^ Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) VII. XVIII. i. 202.
- ^ KANE Grinnell Exp. iv. (1856) 33. From Oxford English Dictionary
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