holophrastic

[ hol-uh-fras-tik, hoh-luh- ]

adjective

1. using or consisting of a single word that functions as a phrase or sentence.
2. characterized by holophrasis; polysynthetic:

   a holophrastic language.

holophrastic

/ ˌhɒləˈfræstɪk /

adjective

1. denoting the stage in a child's acquisition of syntax when most utterances are single words
2. (of languages) tending to express in one word what would be expressed in several words in other languages; polysynthetic

Word History and Origins

Origin of holophrastic¹

1855–60; holo- + -phrastic; periphrastic

Word History and Origins

Origin of holophrastic¹

C19: from holo- + Greek phrastikos expressive, from phrazein to express

Example Sentences

The term itself, he said, can’t be explained to someone who doesn’t speak the Lakota language, which is “esoteric, conceptual and holophrastic,” meaning that a phrase or an entire sentence is expressed by a single word.

From New York Times

Holophrastic, hol-o-fras′tik, adj. bearing the force of a whole phrase, expressive of a sentence or an idea.—n.

From Project Gutenberg

Philology also leads us back to that state when the animate and the inanimate were confounded, for the holophrastic roots into which words are finally resolved show us that all inanimate things were represented in language as actors.

From Project Gutenberg

Various scholars have called attention to this feature by describing Indian languages as being holophrastic, polysynthetic, or synthetic.

From Project Gutenberg

From these and other considerations it is supposed that an analysis of the original conceptions of gestures, studied together with the holophrastic roots in the speech of the gesturers, may aid in the ascertainment of some relation between concrete ideas and words.

From Project Gutenberg