Phrase vs. Collocation — What's the Difference?

A group of words that expresses an idea and forms part of a sentence.

A linguistic pairing of words that convey a specific meaning.

A sequence of musical notes forming a unit.

A combination of words that are often used together, sounding natural to native speakers.

A small group of words standing together as a conceptual unit.

A predictable pairing of words that frequently appear together.

An expression consisting of one or more words forming a grammatical constituent of a sentence.

Words that are habitually juxtaposed with a particular grammatical rapport.

Any small group of words within a sentence used as a grammatical unit.

A habitual expression where the choice of words is somewhat fixed.

In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words which act together as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy".

In corpus linguistics, a collocation is a series of words or terms that co-occur more often than would be expected by chance. In phraseology, a collocation is a type of compositional phraseme, meaning that it can be understood from the words that make it up.

A sequence of words that have meaning, especially when forming part of a sentence.

The act of collocating or the state of being collocated.

A characteristic way or mode of expression

An arrangement or juxtaposition of words or other elements, especially those that commonly co-occur, as rancid butter, bosom buddy, or dead serious.

A brief, apt, and cogent expression

(uncountable) The grouping or juxtaposition of things, especially words or sounds.

(Music) A short passage or segment, often consisting of four measures or forming part of a larger unit.

(countable) Such a specific grouping.

A series of dance movements forming a unit in a choreographic pattern.

A sequence of words or terms that co-occur more often than would be expected by chance (i.e., the statistically significant placement of particular words in a language), often representing an established name for, or idiomatic way of conveying, a particular semantic concept.

To express orally or in writing

(mathematics) A method of finding an approximate solution of an ordinary differential equation $L[y]=0$ by determining coefficients in an expansion $y(x)\; =\; y\_\{0\}(x)\; +\; \backslash sum\_\{l=0\}^\{q\}\backslash alpha\_\{l\}\; y\_\{l\}(x)$ so as to make $L[y]$ vanish at prescribed points; the expansion with the coefficients thus found is the sought approximation.

To divide (a passage) into phrases.

(computing) A service allowing multiple customers to locate network, server, and storage gear and connect them to a variety of telecommunications and network service providers, at a minimum of cost and complexity.

To combine (notes) in a phrase.

The act of placing; the state of being placed with something else; disposition in place; arrangement.

To make or express phrases.

A combination of related words within a sentence that occurs more frequently than would be predicted in a random arrangement of words; a combination of words that occurs with sufficient frequency to be recongizable as a common combination, especially a pair of words that occur adjacent to each other. Also called stable collocation. Combinations of words having intervening words between them, such as verb and object pairs, may also be collocations.

(Music) To perform a passage with the correct phrasing.

A grouping of words in a sentence

A short written or spoken expression.

The act of positioning close together (or side by side);

(grammar) A word or, more commonly, a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence, usually consisting of a head, or central word, and elaborating words.

(music) A small section of music in a larger piece.

(archaic) A mode or form of speech; diction; expression.

(dance) A short individual motion forming part of a choreographed dance.

(transitive) To express (an action, thought or idea) by means of particular words.

To perform a passage with the correct phrasing.

To divide into melodic phrases.

A brief expression, sometimes a single word, but usually two or more words forming an expression by themselves, or being a portion of a sentence; as, an adverbial phrase.

A short, pithy expression; especially, one which is often employed; a peculiar or idiomatic turn of speech; as, to err is human.

A mode or form of speech; the manner or style in which any one expreses himself; diction; expression.

A short clause or portion of a period.

To express in words, or in peculiar words; to call; to style.

To use proper or fine phrases.

An expression forming a grammatical constituent of a sentence but not containing a finite verb

A short musical passage

An expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up

Put into words or an expression;

A phrase is a group of words that express a concept and may be used as part of a sentence but does not include a subject-verb pairing by itself.

A collocation is a combination of words that frequently appear together and are expected in certain contexts by native speakers.

Yes, some phrases can also be collocations if they consist of words that frequently appear together.

Learning collocations is important because it helps language learners speak and write more naturally and fluently, by using combinations of words that native speakers expect to hear together.

Learners may find it challenging to understand collocations due to their idiomatic nature, as they often do not translate directly from one language to another.

A collocation can be identified by its frequency of use together in a language and the awkwardness or unnaturalness that arises when words in the collocation are replaced with their synonyms.

While new collocations can emerge as language evolves, they usually become established through widespread and habitual use among native speakers.

Yes, a phrase can contain a collocation if the group of words within the phrase often appear together and form a part of habitual language use.

Collocations can vary between different English dialects, with certain word combinations preferred in one dialect over another, reflecting regional linguistic preferences.

In poetry and literature, phrases are crucial for building imagery, setting tone, and conveying emotions succinctly, often allowing for a more profound impact through concise language.

Yes, there are various linguistic tools and databases, such as concordancers and collocation dictionaries, that can help identify and learn collocations.

Common verb-noun collocations include "perform an operation," "take a photo," and "give a presentation."

Phrases add complexity to language by allowing speakers to construct longer and more varied sentences, enhancing both the depth and detail of communication.