Strained or paradoxical use of words either in error (as `blatant' to mean `flagrant') or deliberately (as in a mixed metaphor `blind mouths')

The Collaborative International Dictionary Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Catachresis \Cat`a*chre"sis\, n. [L. fr. Gr. ? misuse, fr. ? to misuse; kata` against + ? to use.] (Rhet.) A figure by which one word is wrongly put for another, or by which a word is wrested from its true signification; as, ``To take arms against a sea ...

Wikipedia Word definitions in Wikipedia
Catachresis (from Greek , "abuse"), originally meaning a semantic misuse or error—e.g., using "militate" for "mitigate", "chronic" for "severe", "anachronism" for "anomaly", "alibi" for "excuse", etc.—is also the name given to many different types of figure ...

Wiktionary Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. 1 A misuse of a word; an application of a term to something which it does not properly denote. 2 (context rhetoric English) A misapplication or overextension of figurative or analogical description; a wrongly-applied metaphor or trope.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1580s, from Latin catachresis , from Greek katakhresis "misuse" (of a word), from katakhresthai "to misuse," from kata- "down" (here with a sense of "perversion;" see cata- ) + khresthai "to use" (see hortatory ). Related: Catachrestic ; catachrestical ...

WordNet Word definitions in WordNet
n. strained or paradoxical use of words either in error (as `blatant' to mean `flagrant') or deliberately (as in a mixed metaphor: `blind mouths')