Times Literary Supplement
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When we paraphrase, we provide a version that can exist beside the original (rather than replace it). We paraphrase all the time. When you tell a friend what someone else has said, you're almost always paraphrasing, since you're not repeating the exact words. If you go to hear a talk, you might paraphrase the speaker's main points afterward for your friends. And when writing a paper on a short story, you might start off your essay with a paraphrase of the plot. Paraphrasing is especially useful when dealing with poetry, since poetic language is often difficult and poems may have meanings that are hard to pin down.
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Examples of paraphrase in a Sentence
Isabel Fraser, WIRED, 18 July 2024
That’s a gentle paraphrase of what was in this viewer’s letter.
—James Barron, New York Times, 23 Jan. 2024
Charles Kay, Baltimore Sun, 30 July 2024
The Left’s answer to the focus on President Biden’s debilitated state is — to paraphrase the old gibe about Rudy Giuliani’s tendency to bring everyone back to September 11 — a noun, a verb, an overheated adjective, and Project 2025.
—Rich Lowry, National Review, 17 July 2024
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“Paraphrase.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paraphrase. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
paraphrase
1 of 2 noun
paraphrase
2 of 2 verb
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