Meaning & use
paraphrase
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To express the meaning of a text or speech using different words, often more simply.
Grammar: Takes an object: paraphrase the passage.
Patterns
- paraphrase something
- paraphrase something in your own words
- paraphrase something as something
For homework, the teacher asked us to paraphrase the article in one paragraph.
She paraphrased the scientist's complicated explanation so that everyone could understand it.
If you paraphrase a source, you still need to cite it.
nouncountable
A restatement of a text or speech in different words, keeping the original meaning.
Grammar: Countable: a paraphrase, two paraphrases.
Patterns
- a paraphrase of something
- in paraphrase
His essay began with a short paraphrase of the original poem.
The book is a paraphrase of an ancient story, not a direct translation.
Word forms
| third person singular | paraphrases |
|---|---|
| past tense | paraphrased |
| past participle | paraphrased |
| -ing form | paraphrasing |
Common combinations
- paraphrase a passage
- Students often paraphrase a passage to check they have understood it.
- loose paraphrase
- That is only a loose paraphrase of what she actually said.
- paraphrase in your own words
- Please paraphrase the definition in your own words.
- a paraphrase of the original
- The summary is a paraphrase of the original report.
Synonyms and how they differ
- reword
- Use reword when you change the wording of a short phrase or sentence, often to make it clearer; paraphrase is more common for longer texts or speeches.
- restate
- Restate means to say something again, often in a more formal way; paraphrase stresses using different words to keep the same meaning.
- summarize
- Summarize means to give only the main points; a paraphrase keeps all the meaning but changes the words.
Word family
- paraphrase noun
- A restatement of a text in different words.
Commonly confused: paraphrase or quote? paraphrase or translate?
paraphrase vs quote
A quote uses the exact words of the original and needs quotation marks; a paraphrase changes the words but keeps the meaning.
paraphrase vs translate
Translate means to change text from one language into another; paraphrase stays in the same language.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence:
Choose one answer.
'Paraphrase in your own words' is the natural pattern because a paraphrase uses different words in the same language. 'Into French' describes translation, quotation marks show a direct quote, and 'to the original' is not a pattern used with paraphrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “paraphrase”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.