Antiphrasis
the use of a word in a sense opposite to its proper meaning.
Historical Examples
Instances of antiphrasis in the names given to black slaves are very common.
The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I. Anonymous
The friend who presented me with him had given him, perhaps by antiphrasis, the startling name of Pelléas.
Our Friend the Dog Maurice Maeterlinck
noun
(rhetoric) the use of a word in a sense opposite to its normal one, esp for ironic effect
n.
1530s, from Latin antiphrasis, from Greek antiphrasis, from antiphrazein “to express (something) by the opposite,” from anti- (see anti-) + phrazein “to consider, to express” (see phrase (n.)).
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