<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>a sequence of two or more words arranged in a grammatical construction and acting as a unit in a sentence.</li><li>(in English) a sequence of two or more words that does not contain a finite verb and its subject or that does not consist of clause elements such as subject, verb, object, or complement, as a preposition and a noun or pronoun, an adjective and noun, or an adverb and verb.</li><li>Rhetoric. a word or group of spoken words that the mind focuses on momentarily as a meaningful unit and is preceded and followed by pauses.</li><li>a characteristic, current, or proverbial expression: a hackneyed phrase.</li><li>Music. a division of a composition, commonly a passage of four or eight measures, forming part of a period.</li><li>a way of speaking, mode of expression, or phraseology: a book written in the phrase of the West.</li><li>a brief utterance or remark: In a phrase, he's a dishonest man.</li><li>Dance. a sequence of motions making up part of a choreographic pattern.</li></ul><p><strong>Verb</strong></p><ul><li>(used with object) phrased, phras·ing. to express or word in a particular way: to phrase an apology well.</li><li>to express in words: to phrase one's thoughts.</li><li>Music. to mark off or bring out the phrases of (a piece), especially in execution.</li><li>to group (notes) into a phrase.</li><li>(used without object) phrased, phras·ing. Music. to perform a passage or piece with proper phrasing.</li></ul>