locution

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin locūtiō, locūtiōnem (“speech”), from loquor (“speak”). Compare the French cognate locution.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /loʊ̯ˈkju.ʃn̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

locution (countable and uncountable, plural locutions)

1. A phrase or expression peculiar to or characteristic of a given person or group of people.

   The television show host is widely recognized for his all-too-common locutions.

   • 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN:

     Another way fathers impact sons is that sons, one their voices have changed in puberty, invariably answer the telephone with the same locutions and intonations of their fathers.

2. The use of a word or phrase in an unusual or specialized way.
   • 1992, Judith Jarvis Thomson, The Realm of Rights, page 299:

     So it cannot be supposed that promisings differ from other word-givings in that a word-giver makes a promise only if he or she uses the locution "I promise".

3. Style of discourse or usage, or any particular utterance in such style.

   informal locutions

4. (religion) A supernatural revelation where a religious figure, statue or icon speaks, usually to a saint.

Derived terms

• locute
• locutionary
• locutive

 

Related terms

• circumlocution
• colloquial
• colloquium
• colloquy
• elocution
• eloquent
• grandiloquent
• illocution
• interlocution
• interlocutor
• loquacious
• perlocution
• soliloquy

 

Translations

phrase or expression connected to an individual or a group of individuals

• Bulgarian: израз (bg) m (izraz), идиом (bg) m (idiom)
• Finnish: sanontatapa
• Greek: έκφραση (el) f (ékfrasi), ιδιωματισμός (el) m (idiomatismós)
• Interlingua: locution
• Polish: lokucja (pl) f

use of a word or phrase in an unusual or specialized way

• Greek: έκφραση (el) f (ékfrasi)
• Interlingua: locution
• Polish: lokucja (pl) f

supernatural revelation

• Finnish: ilmestys (fi)

References

• “locution”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “locution”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “locution”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin locūtiōnem (“speech”), from loqui (“speak”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɔ.ky.sjɔ̃/

• Audio; “la locution”:

  (file)

Noun

locution f (plural locutions)

1. phrase, locution
2. (linguistics) locution (a group of words with the grammatical value of a single word)

Derived terms

• locution adjectivale
• locution adjective
• locution adverbiale
• locution conjonctive
• locution déterminative
• locution figée
• locution interjective
• locution nominale
• locution postpositive
• locution prépositionnelle
• locution prépositive
• locution pronominale
• locution verbale
• locutionnel

 

See also

• syntagme