As defined by the Oxford English Dictionary:
- Improper use of words; application of a term to a thing which it does not properly denote; abuse or perversion of a trope or metaphor.
As defined by Sister Miriam Joseph in “Shakespeare’s Use of the Arts of Language”:
- A vital creative instrument with which [Shakespeare] forges sudden concentrations of meaning, and secures the compression, energy, and intensity which characterizes great poetry.
Dictionaries are simultaneously necessary for, and the bane of, excellent composition. They assist in clarity of communication while limiting the function of words, as if language is something that is fixed - or worse - dead.
Language is a continuously evolving system of complex symbols and signs shaped by those who use it, which in turn gives agency back to the user in exchange for the initial investment.