turn of phrase

1. 1.

   a distinctive spoken or written expression

   “John's succinct turn of phrase persuaded her that it would not be a good idea”

   Synonymsturn of expression

   Broaderexpressive style

   Narrowerconceit

Questions about turn of phrase

What does turn of phrase mean?

turn of phrase means "a distinctive spoken or written expression".

What is another word for turn of phrase?

Close synonyms include turn of expression. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is turn of phrase a common word?

turn of phrase is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.