malapropism.

The usually comic misuse of a word, especially in place of a similar-sounding one.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• an accidental malapropism
• comic malapropisms
• a character's malapropism

On the page

His malapropism—'an anonymous decision' for 'a unanimous decision'—undercut the chair's solemn announcement.

The novelist gives her pompous narrator frequent malapropisms, including a boast about his 'photogenic memory'.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated prose. Lexical Type: Word. Forms: Countable or uncountable by context; countable singular malapropism; plural malapropisms. Commonness: moderately common (editorial estimate; not a corpus frequency statistic). Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1; numbered fields keep each relevant meaning separate. Research distinction: Direct dictionary reading: usually unintentionally humorous misuse/distortion of a word or phrase, especially a similar-sounding word in a ludicrously wrong context. Second cross-reference malaprop directly followed and read: an example of malapropism, not a person. Count/mass usage retained in one sense. Individual usefulness checked for a precise literary, narrative, dialogue or critical function. Definitions and examples are original; commonness is an editorial estimate. Mood and intensity apply only to inherent qualities of the specific sense. Writing functions: comic vocabulary mistakes, character voice through unintended word substitutions.