The unintentional misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar

• Unintentional misuse of a word
• Unintentional confusion of one word with another (by someone in a Sheridan play?)
• The French forward is wearing old lady's slip

The Collaborative International Dictionary Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
malapropism \mal"a*prop*ism\, n. [From Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Sheridan's drama, `` The Rivals,'' who makes amusing blunders in her use of words. See Malapropos .] A grotesque misuse of a word; a word so used.

Wiktionary Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. 1 (context uncountable English) The blundering use of an absurdly inappropriate word or expression in place of a similar sounding one. 2 (context countable English) An instance of this; malaprop.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1826, from Mrs. Malaprop, character in Sheridan's play "The Rivals" (1775), noted for her ridiculous misuse of large words (such as "contagious countries" for "contiguous countries"), her name coined from malapropos .

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Word definitions in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
noun EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS ▪ In spite of his inane malapropisms, he can talk circles around everyone else in the book. ▪ This is really a kind of malapropism .

WordNet Word definitions in WordNet
n. the unintentional misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar [syn: malaprop ]

Wikipedia Word definitions in Wikipedia
A malapropism (also called a malaprop or Dogberryism ) is the use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance . An example is the statement by baseball player Yogi Berra , " Texas has ...