A Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology
n. (also catachresis) An error in which an intended word is replaced by a quite different one of similar sound, such as the use of facilities for faculties, prostrate for prostate or epitaph for epithet, a famous literary example is Dogberry’s Comparisons are odorous. From Mrs Malaprop, a character in Sheridan’s The Rivals much given to such usages, from French mal à propos ‘inappropriate’.
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