para-, par-

(Greek: by the side of, beside, past, beyond; contrary, wrong, irregular, abnormal)

paraphrase
1. Rewording for the purpose of clarification.
2. To express the same message in different words.
3. To restate something using other words; especially, in order to make it simpler or shorter.
4. A restatement of a text or passage in another form, or other words, often to clarify a meaning.
5. The restatement of texts in other words as a studying or teaching device.
paraphrasis
Rewording for the purpose of clarification.
paraphrastic
Having the nature of, or being, a paraphrase (a restatement of a text, passage, or work giving the meaning in another form),
paraphraxis
The inability to perform purposive movements properly.
paraphrenesis
Delirium.
paraphrenia, paraphrenic
1. Severe paranoid illness without deterioration of other cognitive or affective processes.
2. The most common usage of the term today is to denote a disorder characterized by phantastic, absurd, paralogical delusions without deterioration, dementia, or loss of contact with reality except in the area of the delusional system.
3. In paranoid schizophrenia, on the other hand, there is deterioration and splitting off of many of the psychic functions, while in paranoia the delusions are so logical, at least on the surface, as to appear to be little more than an extension of the premorbid personality.
paraphrenitis
1. Mental derangement in general.
2. A reference to inflammation of the diaphragm, formerly thought to be invariably accompanied by delirium; hence applied to delirium supposed to be so produced.
paraphysis
One of the erect sterile filaments often occurring among the reproductive organs of certain fungi, algae, and mosses.
paraplegia
paraplegic
paraplegiform
parappendicitis
parapraxia, parapraxis (s) (noun); parapraxias, parapraxes (pl)
1. A minor unplanned mistake that is usually observed in speech or writing or in small accidents or memory lapses etc.: Ted noticed that the woman's parapraxes included actions in which her conscious intentions were often not entirely carried out, as when she couldn't remember to take her car and/or house keys with her when she wanted to go shopping.

Parapraxia is also known as a "Freudian slip" or "a slip of the tongue", a minor error in speech or action that turns out to be what the person really wanted to say or to do.

While the error of a parapraxis tends to be laughed off, Freud saw the process as a compromise between the fulfillment of an unconscious wish and a conscious effort to repress it.

2. A motor disturbance or an abnormal movement of a body part in which the patient is unable to carry out desired movements and who performs unintended actions: Manfred's parapraxis resulted at times in his accidentally stumbling or walking in an awkward way on a level surface while being sober and alert.
3. Etymology: "faulty action, blunder"; from Modern Latin which comes from para-. "contrary, irregular" + Greek praxis, "a doing, a transaction, a business"; from the stem of prattein. "to do".
A blunder or a slip of the tongue.
© ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

parapsoriasis
1. A rare skin disease characterized by red scaly patches similar to those of psoriasis but causing no sensations of pain or itch.
2. A chronic dermatosis of unknown origin, with erythematous, papular, and scaling lesions appearing in persistent and often enlarging plaques.
3. Any of a group of slowly evolving erythrodermas having common characteristics of scaling, resistance to treatment, and chronicity. The group includes acute and chronic lichenoid pityriasis and large and small plaque parapsoriasis.
4. A heterogenous group of skin disorders including pityriasis lichenoides and small and large plaque variants.
parapsychology
1. The science or study of phenomena that lie outside the sphere of orthodox psychology.
2. The study of extrasensory perception, such as thought transference (telepathy) and clairvoyance.
3. The branch of psychology dealing with the study of psychic phenomena; such as, extrasensory perception, clairvoyance, and telepathy, that appear to fall beyond the scope of physical law.