phrases

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of phrase.

   Lawyers tend to repeat the same stock phrases in their contracts.

   The song's chorus relies on simple phrases that listeners pick up quickly.

   Note

   The plural spans every count sense of the noun: stock phrases in speech, the head-built units of grammar, short sections of a piece of music, single motions in a dance. Because phrase already ends in -e, only -s is added. The same spelling also serves as the verb's present form, so "she phrases it carefully" and "two short phrases" are told apart by the sentence around them, not by spelling.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of phrase.

   The diplomat phrases each statement to avoid giving offense.

   She phrases her feedback gently, softening any blow.

   Note

   In everyday use the verb takes an object and usually a word of manner: someone phrases a request politely, a statement carefully, feedback gently. Musicians have their own use, shaping a passage in performance. There it may take an object (a violinist phrases the melody broadly) or stand alone (she phrases beautifully), the one setting where the verb needs nothing after it.

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