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meaning - A word for when a word is used incorrectly (grammatically) but can still be parsed in a grammatically correct way?


Does such a word exist?


An example:


Do good.


Supposing that my intention in saying "Do good!" was actually "Do well (on your test)!", the sentence still parses correctly as "Do good (deeds)!"


I will attempt to think of more examples and update this if/when I do.


This seems related to a pun in some way, but I was unable to find information about it. (Without knowing the word to begin with, I find it very difficult to navigate wikipedia when looking for "pun-related" words. I.e. It took me forever to find tom swifty and paraprosdokian.)



Answer



There are a few names for (rhetoric) vices that refer to using wrong words or wrong expressions at wrong places.


You are probably looking for acyrologia,



An incorrect use of words, especially the use of words that sound alike but are far in meaning from the speaker's intentions. Note: Malapropisms are a kind of acyrologia.



or malapropism,



A malapropism is an act of misusing or the habitual misuse of similar sounding words, especially with humorous results.



Related vice is also catachresis,



The use of a word in a context that differs from its proper application.



You might want to go through the list of vices to better define what you are looking for in according to existing classifications.


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