Definitions

1. noun

a figure of speech in which a word is used in place of another word to which it is not properly related, especially a metaphorical or allegorical expression

“The critic accused the poet of using catachreses throughout the entire poem, which made it hard to decipher the intended meaning.”

2. noun

a rhetorical term for a misuse or perversion of language

“The scholar’s book focused on the various forms of catachreses in 19th-century literature, exploring their impact on the literary landscape.”