different between repartee vs metaphrase

English

Alternative forms

• repartée

Etymology

From French repartie, deverbal of repartir (“to retort”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /???p???te?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???p???ti?/

Noun

repartee (countable and uncountable, plural repartees)

1. A swift, witty reply, especially one that is amusing.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:joke

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

     Yet habit—strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?—Gayer sallies, more merry mirth, better jokes, and brighter repartees, you never heard over your mahogany […]

   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 41

     A slight smile broke on his lips. ¶ "You are always prepared to sacrifice your principles for a repartee," he answered.

2. A conversation marked by a series of witty retorts.
3. Skill in replying swiftly and wittily.

Translations

Verb

repartee (third-person singular simple present repartees, present participle reparteeing, simple past and past participle reparteed)

1. To reply with a repartee
2. To have a repartee (conversation marked by repartees)

Translations

Further reading

• “repartee”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• Pear Tree, pear tree, peartree, repeater, rerepeat

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ???????????? (metaphrázomai, “consider after”)

Noun

metaphrase (plural metaphrases)

1. a literal, word-for-word translation.
2. An answering phrase; repartee.

   • I'm somewhat dull still in the manly art
     Of phrase and metaphrase. Why, any man
     Can carve a score of white Loves out of snow,
     As Buonarroti down in Florence there,
     And set them on the wall in some safe shade […]

Verb

metaphrase (third-person singular simple present metaphrases, present participle metaphrasing, simple past and past participle metaphrased)

1. to make such a literal translation.

See also

• Translation