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OTHER WORDS FOR paraphrase
Origin of paraphrase, synonym study for paraphrase, other words from paraphrase, words nearby paraphrase, more about paraphrase, what does paraphrase mean.
A paraphrase is a restatement of a text in your own words while giving credit to the person who originated the thought. For example, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” You might paraphrase it in an essay by writing, “To paraphrase FDR, we have nothing to be afraid of, and we can’t let fear hold us back.”
To paraphrase means to restate something in your own words. You might paraphrase complicated information in order to make it easier for your audience to understand. You also might paraphrase something when you can’t remember or can’t verify the exact wording. It’s important to remember that you still need to credit the originator of the statement you’re paraphrasing .
Example: If you cannot remember the exact quote, you can paraphrase with precise detail.
Where does paraphrase come from?
The first records of the term paraphrase come from the mid-1500s. It ultimately comes from the Greek paráphrasis . Typically, the suffix para – means “side by side,” so a paraphrase is a “side by side phrase,” or “a phrase that means the same but looks or sounds different.”
Sometimes, people will paraphrase famous quotes, quotes from important figures, or quotes from research and change key parts of it or the overall wording to make the quote seem like it supports their claim when, in fact, it does not. For example, someone may paraphrase a quote from a research article but leave out certain details to make the research support their argument while the actual quote might not. When looking at an argument that uses a lot of paraphrases as evidence, it’s a good idea to find the original quotes to see if they truly support the argument.
Did you know … ?
What are some other forms related to paraphrase ?
- paraphrasable (adjective)
- paraphraser (noun)
- misparaphrase (verb)
- unparaphrased (adjective)
What are some synonyms for paraphrase ?
What are some words that share a root or word element with paraphrase ?
What are some words that often get used in discussing paraphrase ?
How is paraphrase used in real life?
News, research, and academic writing often use paraphrasing to tell their stories.
To paraphrase: How long does it take to write a screenplay? Your whole life plus the time it takes to type it. — Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 8, 2015
FAQ: How many in-text citations do I need in a paragraph when I am paraphrasing (e.g., after every sentence or just once at the end)? A: The “Long Paraphrases” section of this #APAStyle page has practical guidelines and examples: https://t.co/eH9tg2nf4M — APA Style (@APA_Style) December 1, 2021
to paraphrase shigeru miyamoto, a delayed album is eventually good, but a rushed album is forever bad — xander (@mura_masa_) December 30, 2015
Try using paraphrase !
True or False?
To paraphrase someone is to quote their words precisely.
Words related to paraphrase
How to use paraphrase in a sentence.
When Obsessive Loser Duncan Stevens suggested examples for this contest — one of several Shakespeare-centered challenges he’s proposed — I told him that I wanted to stick to modern paraphrase s, rather than taking him humorously out of context.
To paraphrase Peter Tosh, if Illinois were to legalize it, would you advertise it?
To paraphrase the renegade philosopher Hannibal, I love it when science comes together.
To paraphrase Fox Friends, don't get caught beating women on camera and you're safe to play in the NFL.
Barry Goldwater is not the sort of man you might expect Stephen F. Cohen to paraphrase .
To paraphrase the great John Oliver, listen up, fellow self-pitying nerd boys—we are not the victims here.
A man may weep and weep, to paraphrase Shakespeare, "and be a villain!"
The omissions are the most sensible that I have found in a paraphrase .
This is not paraphrase ; it is sheer misapprehension of the Old English.
As the language in which it is written is not easily intelligible, I have added a paraphrase on the opposite pages.
Instead of "Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion," we have the paraphrase , "That maketh and transformeth all things."
British Dictionary definitions for paraphrase
Derived forms of paraphrase, word origin for paraphrase, cultural definitions for paraphrase.
A restatement of speech or writing that retains the basic meaning while changing the words. A paraphrase often clarifies the original statement by putting it into words that are more easily understood.
How to Paraphrase (Without Plagiarizing a Thing)
A paraphrase (or paraphrasing) is a restatement of another piece of writing with new words or phrases while keeping the same meaning, usually to modify the language or simply avoid plagiarism . For example, Shakespeare’s famous line, “To be or not to be,” could be paraphrased as, “Is it better to exist or not exist at all?”
Paraphrasing is an important communication technique, especially in research papers , to avoid copying an original source verbatim. However, learning how to paraphrase can take some practice, so below we explain what you need to know, starting with a simple paraphrase definition.
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What is paraphrasing?
Paraphrasing takes an original passage and uses different words or phrases to express the same meaning. Essentially, a paraphrase just rewrites the original text in its own way.
A paraphrase always uses unique wording, something you come up with that’s different from the original source. Because they’re unique, paraphrases do not require quotation marks as direct quotes do.
What is the purpose of paraphrasing?
Why bother paraphrasing when you can just quote the primary or secondary source? With a variety of benefits, paraphrasing comes in handy in quite a few different situations. In particular, here are six common reasons to paraphrase:
1 Improve word choice
Sometimes you just want to rewrite the original text in your own words—maybe you want to fit it to your personal writing style, or perhaps you just prefer your own word choice . In any case, paraphrasing gives you the chance to pick your own words or phrases while keeping the core of the message the same.
2 Change subject matter
Paraphrasing is very useful if you like the wording of the original passage but want to change the subject to apply to something else. For example, Will Rogers’s famous quote, “I never met a man I didn’t like,” is often paraphrased, sometimes humorously, as in comedian Jim Gaffigan saying, “I never met a cheeseburger I didn’t like.”
3 Avoid plagiarizing
Rewriting someone’s text without changing the words is plagiarism. If you want to repeat a sentiment or cite another person’s research, you have to at least put it into your own words or quote it directly, but overusing quotes can also be problematic, as we see below.
4 Avoid overusing quotes
Quotations are great when the author said it best themselves, but use too many quotes and you’re essentially just copying someone else’s work. If you’re constantly referencing others’ works, it’s best to switch between paraphrasing and direct quotes to make a piece of writing your own.
5 Avoid problematic language
Occasionally, the language in a direct quote won’t fit what you’re writing. Often this is a mechanical mistake, such as a partial quote with the wrong subject-verb agreement or gender pronoun .
Other times, it could be insensitive or outdated language. For example, the famous (albeit antiquated) line “a good man is hard to find” can be paraphrased more modernly as “a good partner is hard to find.”
6 Shorten lengthy quotes
Last, paraphrasing works wonders when you need to condense a long, verbose quote to make it more digestible. Some writers get paid by the word, so to speak, but if you’re writing something meant to be concise, you can paraphrase their original text more succinctly.
What is the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing?
Paraphrasing and summarizing are two similar and related ideas, so it makes sense that they’re often confused with each other.
To tell them apart, think of them like this: Paraphrasing is putting an individual passage into your own words while summarizing is putting a text or passage’s main idea, theme, or story into your own words.
Summarizing deals with the big picture, such as an entire body of work or a complete chapter, while paraphrasing deals with specific passages, from a few words to a few paragraphs, but nothing terribly lengthy. Summaries are always shorter than their original source, but paraphrases are typically around the same length as, if not slightly shorter than, their source.
Another distinction is that summaries tend to gloss over the details, as we mentioned when explaining how to write a summary , whereas paraphrases can still incorporate everything, as long as it’s reworded.
How to paraphrase, with examples
Paraphrasing is one of the five most effective methods for avoiding plagiarism , but how do you say the same thing without using the same words? Here are some simple strategies that we suggest in combination for effective paraphrasing:
1 Use synonyms
Replace the essential words of an original passage with other words that mean the same thing, such as using “scientist” for “researcher,” or “seniors” for “the elderly.” This is a common approach to paraphrasing, but it’s not sufficient on its own. Combine this strategy with some of the others below to make your writing appear fresh.
Original text:
Some plants release certain aromas to alert their plant neighbors that they’re under attack.
Paraphrase :
Some vegetation emits special scents to warn other plants that there’s danger nearby.
2 Change the parts of speech
Sometimes, you can rephrase a sentence by changing the parts of speech, such as converting a gerund into the operative verb, or turning an adjective into an adverb . This strategy depends on the wording of the original passage, so you may not always have the opportunity; we also suggest using this in combination with other strategies here for more original writing.
Polar bears are almost undetectable by infrared cameras because of how they conserve heat.
Paraphrase:
Polar bears cannot be detected easily by infrared cameras due to their unique heat conservation.
3 Rearrange the structure
You can switch around the order of certain phrases and clauses—or mix and match them from other sentences—to create brand new sentences. Although it may be tempting to use the passive voice when paraphrasing, try to avoid it unless there’s no other option.
The observable universe consists of 50,000,000,000 galaxies.
Fifty billion galaxies comprise the known universe.
4 Add or remove pieces
If a part of a quote isn’t relevant to what you’re writing about, you can remove it and paraphrase the remainder in your own words. Likewise, you can add your own personal take to an existing quote to help contextualize it or adapt it to your topic. In either case, make sure you still reword whatever comes from the original source.
Human eyes get used to darkness after an hour, but by then they’ll be 100,000 times more sensitive to light.
If you sit in a dark room, your eyes will eventually adjust and become 100,000 times more sensitive to light—but be careful when you turn on the light again!
Paraphrasing FAQs
Have specific questions about paraphrasing and how to paraphrase? You’re not alone! Here are some frequently asked questions about paraphrasing by others just like you.
What is paraphrasing?
Paraphrasing is restating another author’s original text in your own words. In essence, it is a new piece of writing with the same meaning, as opposed to a direct quotation from an existing piece of writing.
What is an example of paraphrasing?
The original passage from the US Declaration of Independence, “All men are created equal,” can be paraphrased in a more progressive way as “All people are created equal.”
How do you paraphrase a sentence?
Some common techniques for paraphrasing involve using synonyms, changing the parts of speech, rearranging the sentence structure, and adding/removing specific sections.
What makes a good paraphrase?
A good paraphrase has the same meaning as the original source, but with new words or phrases. It’s best for taking another author’s sentiments and expressing them in your own personal style.
Ensure your writing is original
When writing essays, research papers, and other academic writing assignments, you’re expected to turn in documents that are wholly original and in your own words. However, unintentional plagiarism is a risk many students face. Enter Grammarly’s plagiarism detector , which checks your writing against 90 billion online texts to flag any instances of unoriginal wording. Writing with Grammarly helps you avoid plagiarism and get better grades in the process.
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- Knowledge Base
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- How to Paraphrase | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples
How to Paraphrase | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples
Published on April 8, 2022 by Courtney Gahan and Jack Caulfield. Revised on November 4, 2022.
Paraphrasing means putting someone else’s ideas into your own words. Paraphrasing a source involves changing the wording while preserving the original meaning.
Paraphrasing is an alternative to quoting (copying someone’s exact words and putting them in quotation marks ). In academic writing, it’s usually better to integrate sources by paraphrasing instead of quoting. It shows that you have understood the source, reads more smoothly, and keeps your own voice front and center.
Every time you paraphrase, it’s important to cite the source . Also take care not to use wording that is too similar to the original. Otherwise, you could be at risk of committing plagiarism .
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Table of contents
How to paraphrase in five easy steps, how to paraphrase correctly, examples of paraphrasing, how to cite a paraphrase, paraphrasing vs. quoting, paraphrasing vs. summarizing, avoiding plagiarism when you paraphrase, frequently asked questions about paraphrasing.
If you’re struggling to get to grips with the process of paraphrasing, check out our easy step-by-step guide in the video below.
Putting an idea into your own words can be easier said than done. Let’s say you want to paraphrase the text below, about population decline in a particular species of sea snails.
Incorrect paraphrasing
You might make a first attempt to paraphrase it by swapping out a few words for synonyms .
Like other sea creatures inhabiting the vicinity of highly populated coasts, horse conchs have lost substantial territory to advancement and contamination , including preferred breeding grounds along mud flats and seagrass beds. Their Gulf home is also heating up due to global warming , which scientists think further puts pressure on the creatures , predicated upon the harmful effects extra warmth has on other large mollusks (Barnett, 2022).
This attempt at paraphrasing doesn’t change the sentence structure or order of information, only some of the word choices. And the synonyms chosen are poor:
- “Advancement and contamination” doesn’t really convey the same meaning as “development and pollution.”
- Sometimes the changes make the tone less academic: “home” for “habitat” and “sea creatures” for “marine animals.”
- Adding phrases like “inhabiting the vicinity of” and “puts pressure on” makes the text needlessly long-winded.
- Global warming is related to climate change, but they don’t mean exactly the same thing.
Because of this, the text reads awkwardly, is longer than it needs to be, and remains too close to the original phrasing. This means you risk being accused of plagiarism .
Correct paraphrasing
Let’s look at a more effective way of paraphrasing the same text.
Here, we’ve:
- Only included the information that’s relevant to our argument (note that the paraphrase is shorter than the original)
- Introduced the information with the signal phrase “Scientists believe that …”
- Retained key terms like “development and pollution,” since changing them could alter the meaning
- Structured sentences in our own way instead of copying the structure of the original
- Started from a different point, presenting information in a different order
Because of this, we’re able to clearly convey the relevant information from the source without sticking too close to the original phrasing.
Explore the tabs below to see examples of paraphrasing in action.
- Journal article
- Newspaper article
- Magazine article
Once you have your perfectly paraphrased text, you need to ensure you credit the original author. You’ll always paraphrase sources in the same way, but you’ll have to use a different type of in-text citation depending on what citation style you follow.
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It’s a good idea to paraphrase instead of quoting in most cases because:
- Paraphrasing shows that you fully understand the meaning of a text
- Your own voice remains dominant throughout your paper
- Quotes reduce the readability of your text
But that doesn’t mean you should never quote. Quotes are appropriate when:
- Giving a precise definition
- Saying something about the author’s language or style (e.g., in a literary analysis paper)
- Providing evidence in support of an argument
- Critiquing or analyzing a specific claim
A paraphrase puts a specific passage into your own words. It’s typically a similar length to the original text, or slightly shorter.
When you boil a longer piece of writing down to the key points, so that the result is a lot shorter than the original, this is called summarizing .
Paraphrasing and quoting are important tools for presenting specific information from sources. But if the information you want to include is more general (e.g., the overarching argument of a whole article), summarizing is more appropriate.
When paraphrasing, you have to be careful to avoid accidental plagiarism .
This can happen if the paraphrase is too similar to the original quote, with phrases or whole sentences that are identical (and should therefore be in quotation marks). It can also happen if you fail to properly cite the source.
Paraphrasing tools are widely used by students, and can be especially useful for non-native speakers who may find academic writing particularly challenging. While these can be helpful for a bit of extra inspiration, use these tools sparingly, keeping academic integrity in mind.
To make sure you’ve properly paraphrased and cited all your sources, you could elect to run a plagiarism check before submitting your paper. And of course, always be sure to read your source material yourself and take the first stab at paraphrasing on your own.
To paraphrase effectively, don’t just take the original sentence and swap out some of the words for synonyms. Instead, try:
- Reformulating the sentence (e.g., change active to passive , or start from a different point)
- Combining information from multiple sentences into one
- Leaving out information from the original that isn’t relevant to your point
- Using synonyms where they don’t distort the meaning
The main point is to ensure you don’t just copy the structure of the original text, but instead reformulate the idea in your own words.
Paraphrasing without crediting the original author is a form of plagiarism , because you’re presenting someone else’s ideas as if they were your own.
However, paraphrasing is not plagiarism if you correctly cite the source . This means including an in-text citation and a full reference, formatted according to your required citation style .
As well as citing, make sure that any paraphrased text is completely rewritten in your own words.
Plagiarism means using someone else’s words or ideas and passing them off as your own. Paraphrasing means putting someone else’s ideas in your own words.
So when does paraphrasing count as plagiarism?
- Paraphrasing is plagiarism if you don’t properly credit the original author.
- Paraphrasing is plagiarism if your text is too close to the original wording (even if you cite the source). If you directly copy a sentence or phrase, you should quote it instead.
- Paraphrasing is not plagiarism if you put the author’s ideas completely in your own words and properly cite the source .
To present information from other sources in academic writing , it’s best to paraphrase in most cases. This shows that you’ve understood the ideas you’re discussing and incorporates them into your text smoothly.
It’s appropriate to quote when:
- Changing the phrasing would distort the meaning of the original text
- You want to discuss the author’s language choices (e.g., in literary analysis )
- You’re presenting a precise definition
- You’re looking in depth at a specific claim
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Gahan, C. & Caulfield, J. (2022, November 04). How to Paraphrase | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved March 3, 2023, from https://www.scribbr.com/working-with-sources/how-to-paraphrase/
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- Literary Terms
- Definition & Examples
- When & How to Use Paraphrase
I. What is a Paraphrase?
A paraphrase (pronounced par – uh -freyz) is a restatement or rewording of a paragraph or text, in order to borrow, clarify, or expand on information without plagiarizing. Paraphrasing is an important tool to use when writing research papers, essays , and pieces of journalism.
II. Examples of Paraphrasing
For examples of paraphrasing, consider these possible re-wordings of the same statement:
She angered me with her inappropriate comments, rumor-spreading, and disrespectfulness at the formal dinner table.
She made me angry when she was rude at dinner.
This paraphrase is an example of a rewording which shortens and simplifies while maintaining the same meaning.
Her impoliteness, gossiping, and general lack of respect at dinner infuriated me.
This rephrasing maintains the same meaning but is rearranged in a creative way.
I was mad when she started spreading rumors, making inappropriate comments, and disrespecting other guests at our dinner.
Another paraphrase, this rewording properly and interestingly rearranges the information provided in the original sentence.
III. Types of Paraphrasing
A. change of parts of speech.
Parts of speech ranging from verbs and nouns to adjectives and adverbs are replaced with new parts of speech in this type of paraphrasing. Here is an example:
Original Sentence:
The boy quickly ran across the finish line, seizing yet another victory.
Paraphrase:
The quick boy seized yet another victory when he ran across the finish line.
In this example, many parts of speech are changed: the adverb quickly becomes the adjective quick, and the verb phrase with the gerund seizing becomes the verb seized.
B. Change of Structure
This type of paraphrasing involves changing the sentence’s structure, sometimes creating a passive voice from an active voice and vice versa. The change in structure can be used to reflect the writer’s interpretation of the original quote. Here is an example of change of structure paraphrasing:
Puppies were adopted by numerous kind souls at the puppy drive.
Many kind souls adopted puppies during the puppy drive.
In this example, the object of the sentence (kind souls) becomes the subject with an active voice (adopted) rather than a passive voice (were adopted).
C. Reduction of Clauses
Reduction of clauses paraphrases reduce the number of clauses in a sentence, which can be interruptive or confusing, by incorporating the phrases into the sentence. Here is an example of reduction of clauses paraphrasing:
While I understand where you’re coming from, and truly respect your opinion, I wish you would express yourself more clearly, like Clara does.
I understand where you’re coming from and respect your opinion, but I wish you would be more like Clara and express yourself more clearly.
D. Synonym Replacement
Synonym replacement paraphrasing is one of the simplest forms of paraphrasing: replacing words with similar words, or synonyms. Here is an example:
The older citizens were honored with a parade for those once in the military.
Senior citizens were honored with a march for veterans.
In this example, many synonyms are used: older citizens are senior citizens, a parade becomes a march, and those once in the military refers to veterans.
IV. The Importance of Using Paraphrase
Paraphrasing is a way of referencing a source without directly quoting it or of further explaining a selected quote. Correct paraphrasing is important in that poor paraphrasing can result in accusations of plagiarism, or copying from a source without correctly citing it. Paraphrasing allows writers to examine the meaning of others’ work, creatively rephrase their statements, and craft information to suit an essay or composition’s goal or focus.
V. Paraphrase in Literature
Paraphrasing can be found in a variety of journalistic sources from newspapers to film documentaries to literary journals. Here are a few examples of paraphrasing in literature:
Someone once wrote that musicians are touched on the shoulder by God, and I think it’s true. You can make other people happy with music, but you can make yourself happy too.
In John Berendt’s nonfiction novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil , a character references what someone has once written by paraphrasing their message.
I’m going to paraphrase Thoreau here… rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness… give me truth.
In this example from the nonfiction novel Into the Wild , Jon Krakauer paraphrases Thoreau’s larger message of transcendence.
So far, Laurance’s critiques of new road-building schemes have been well received, but he expects that to change.
In Michelle Nijhuis’ article “What Roads Have Wrought,” William Laurance is paraphrased rather than quoted to express his general viewpoint.
VI. Paraphrase in Pop Culture
Paraphrasing is often found in pop culture when attempting to translate the language of older plays, poems, and stories, such as Shakespeare’s works. Here are a few examples of paraphrasing in pop culture:
10 Things I Hate About You (1999):
Just a minor encounter with the shrew… the mewling, rampalian wretch herself.
In the modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew , many characters ’ lines paraphrase Shakespeare’s originals. Here is Shakespeare’s version:
A meacock wretch can make the curstest shrew.
A Different World: Romeo, Oh Romeo
First, the student reads Shakespeare’s original words:
Oh gentle Romeo. If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully. Or if thou thinkest I’m too quickly won, I’ll frown and be perverse and say thee nay, so thou wilt woo.
Then, she paraphrases to translate its meaning for modern ears:
It’s all about translation. Oh, sweet thang Romeo. If you think I’m all that, then step to me correctly. But if you think I’m a skeeze, I’ll be dissin’ and dismissin’, then you’ll be workin’ overtime getting’ me back.
VII. Related Terms
Like paraphrases, summaries are rewordings of original statements. Whereas paraphrases are precise and specific, summaries are brief and selective. Summaries report main points in a shortened version of the original, whereas paraphrases simply restate the original statement in a new way. Here is an example of summary versus paraphrase:
Original Statement:
At the party we had delicious red punch, a bunch of different appetizers, and a cookout. Since it was at the park, we played volleyball, went swimming, and sunbathed for fun.
At the party we enjoyed food and drink and various outdoor activities.
Here, the summary purposefully shortens the original statement while covering its major points.
At the party we drank some punch, ate a handful of appetizers, and had a cookout. The park allowed us to enjoy a number of enjoyable activities from volleyball to swimming to sunbathing.
As this example shows, the paraphrase rephrases the original statement and keeps more of its original content than the summary.
Translation
Although paraphrase sometimes translates difficult phrasing into more understandable phrasing, it is not literally considered translation. For something to be a translation, it must change writing in one language to another language. Here is an example of translation versus paraphrasing:
Original Phrase:
That’s life.
Translation into French:
C’est la vie.
That’s just how life goes sometimes.
Although we loosely may refer to paraphrase as translating ideas, technically it is not a tool of translation.
VIII. In Closing
Paraphrasing is an important tool for nonfiction writers, journalists, and essayists alike. It is a common proponent of news and reporting. Correct paraphrasing protects writers from plagiarism and allows them to creatively rephrase original works, incorporating them into their own compositions.
List of Terms
- Alliteration
- Amplification
- Anachronism
- Anthropomorphism
- Antonomasia
- APA Citation
- Aposiopesis
- Autobiography
- Bildungsroman
- Characterization
- Circumlocution
- Cliffhanger
- Comic Relief
- Connotation
- Deus ex machina
- Deuteragonist
- Doppelganger
- Double Entendre
- Dramatic irony
- Equivocation
- Extended Metaphor
- Figures of Speech
- Flash-forward
- Foreshadowing
- Intertextuality
- Juxtaposition
- Literary Device
- Malapropism
- Onomatopoeia
- Parallelism
- Pathetic Fallacy
- Personification
- Point of View
- Polysyndeton
- Protagonist
- Red Herring
- Rhetorical Device
- Rhetorical Question
- Science Fiction
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- Synesthesia
- Turning Point
- Understatement
- Urban Legend
- Verisimilitude
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What is Paraphrasing? Definition, Example & Tips
You might have read some sentence or a paragraph that you found intriguing and wanted to include in your blog, but alas! You can't use those sentences because of the possible risk of plagiarism.
That's when you can think of restructuring the sentences, and the process is called paraphrasing. Honestly, paraphrasing is legit if the sentence makes sense and sounds intriguing to your audience.
In this guide, we have shared the definition of paraphrasing and paraphrasing a sentence without compromising the quality.
Paraphrase Definition
Paraphrasing is the restatement of a text or a method of retaining ideas in a way slightly different from the original passage.
However, different dictionaries might have different meanings for this word.
According to Merriam Webster , paraphrasing is “ a statement that says something that another person has said or written in a different way.”
Cambridge dictionary defines it as " to repeat something written or spoken using different words, often in a humorous form or in a simpler and shorter form that makes the original meaning clearer. "
The paraphrased content should be close to the original sentence's language and intent while adding extra information or details that make sense for your writing style.
Paraphrasing can also help you avoid plagiarism by not copying someone else's work directly from their website or blog.
Now, paraphrasing is an alternative to quoting. In quoting, you can place the original quote as it is. In paraphrasing, you change the sentence structure of the given sentence to create a different version of the same sentence.
That said, paraphrasing can help create different versions of the sentences with the same meaning.
Paraphrasing Examples Without Plagiarizing
Let’s look at some paraphrasing examples without plagiarizing, which will help you understand the process better:
Sentence 1 (Original): Giraffes like Acacia leaves and hay, and they can consume 75 pounds of food a day.
Paraphrased: Giraffes can feed on 75 pounds of food per day, thanks to Acacia leaves and hay.
Sentence 2: The federal crackdown on crypto has led to instabilities in the market.
Paraphrase: Because of the federal crackdown on crypto, the market has suffered instabilities.
Sentence 3: The states are merely agents of the federal government.
Paraphrased: The states are only operating as agents of the federal government.
As evident from the above examples, paraphrasing was simply a restatement of the original sentence.
- The text was written by using synonyms.
- The original meaning of the sentence was the same as the rephrased one. This means the main idea of the sentence remained unchanged.
- Only the common or generic words were changed; there was no change in the proper noun.
Why Should You Paraphrase?
Paraphrasing offers various benefits in content creation that we may often fail to identify. Here are the six major purposes of paraphrasing a sentence:
Better word choice
Sometimes you just want to rewrite the original content in your own words—perhaps to match your own writing style or simply because you prefer your own word choices.
In any event, paraphrasing allows you to use your own words or phrases while keeping the fundamental message intact.
No plagiarism
Writing is a form of expression, and while it is true that some people plagiarize in order to pass as their own. This can lead to legal trouble if the original writer files charges against you for copyright infringement or theft.
Paraphrasing avoids this problem by only changing common words or phrases so long as your meaning still remains intact with few exceptions such as "academy" replacing "school", rather than paraphrasing an entire sentence.
Avoid problematic language
A straight quote's terminology may not always be appropriate for what you're writing. An error, such as a partial quote with the incorrect subject-verb agreement or gender pronoun, is frequently the cause.
A paraphrase, on the other hand, provides an opportunity to reword the original phrase so that it meets your own criteria. This allows you to avoid accidentally implying another meaning or word choice with a quote while maintaining its fundamental message intact.
Convey information more efficiently
Paraphrasing often allows you to convey information more efficiently and effectively.
Paraphrasing may involve some effort, but it is well worth the time spent.
Sometimes, just rewriting what someone else said can be as simple as writing down their exact words verbatim or using an online translator. However, it is not always enough because your message will carry too much of the original author's voice. In this case, you need to write from your own voice and perspective.
Avoid overuse of quotes
It is often tempting to use a quote in your own writing because it saves effort, but this can be a problem if you do not replace the author's exact wording with words that best suit your message.
If too many quotes are used without any kind of paraphrase being present instead, then someone may assume that the content was copied word for word from another source.
Moreover, if you use the original sentence, you need to put them in quotation marks and lookup for the original source, which might be hard to find on the Internet sometimes.
You can shorten lengthy quotes
Finally, when you need to compress a long, verbose phrase into something more digestible, paraphrasing comes in handy.
Some authors are paid by the word, but if you're producing anything that needs to be brief, you can paraphrase their original material more effectively.
What is the Difference Between Paraphrasing and Summarizing?
Paraphrasing and summarizing may often be confused with each other, but they have slightly different meanings.
Summarizing replaces a person's ideas with your own, but does not involve writing from another point of view.
Paraphrasing requires you to be original, which in turn allows you to convey that idea more effectively than if it were taken from someone else's words alone.
Summaries focus on the main points of a longer work, while paraphrasing deals with specific paragraphs, usually keeping them the same length as their original source. Summaries are always shorter than their original source, while paraphrases are typically around the same length, if not slightly shorter than their source.
How to Paraphrase (With Examples)?
To paraphrase means to make a version of something that is not the original, and is usually done for one or more reasons.
Here is how you can paraphrase better:
Use synonyms
Replace the important words in an original section with synonyms, such as "ideally" for "preferably" or "antagonist" for "the villain."
This is a frequent method of paraphrasing. However, it isn't sufficient in itself. To make your writing appear new, combine this method with some of the ones listed below.
Use rewording
This is a more creative method of paraphrasing, but it doesn't necessarily always work.
Rewording may occur when you are rewriting something that was already in your original source, and the words no longer fit very well.
In this case, rewording might slightly change the meaning to make your writing sound better or new, but keep its structure close to what was written at first.
Change parts of speech
This is a very effective method of paraphrasing because it can make your writing sound fresh and new.
The main thing to remember about this method of rewriting is that you should keep the same meaning as the original source.
If you change from an adjective into a noun or vice versa from the original statement, some readers will think there has been a mistake in your work.
Make adjustments by adding or removing words
Remove any parts of a quote that aren't related to what you're writing about and rephrase the rest in your own words. Similarly, you can personalize an old quotation by adding your own spin to it to assist in contextualizing or adapting it to your theme.
In either case, make sure to rewrite everything that originates from the original source.
Restructure your sentences
Make a few changes to the structure of your writing. An example would be changing "he wanted" into "he wished." Also, if you paraphrase some things in one place and not others, then rearrange them so that they go together better.
Is Rephrasing the Same as Paraphrasing?
A paraphrase is a restatement of a text's or passage's context using different words. The word itself comes from the Greek word paraphrasis, which means "extra method of talking."
When you paraphrase someone else's words, you say or write them in a different way to make them your own. Rephrasing, on the other hand, is when you speak or write something in a different way than you originally intended (mostly to make it clearer).
In conclusion, you should always take care when paraphrasing texts to ensure that the meaning is retained and that changes are made in a way that does not disrupt the original message. You can also use paraphrasing software, which will help you do your work accurately and quickly.
By following these simple tips, you can produce fresh and engaging writing. If there are any remaining doubts about paraphrasing, feel free to reach out to us.
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ABout the AUTHOR
Priya Jamba is a Content Marketer at Scalenut. She loves marketing technologies and believes that with the right combination of tools and creativity, every organization can build sustainable brands. She is on a mission to help marketing teams across the globe produce tangible results from their marketing campaigns. Currently, she is working along with the Product team to enhance the AI content quality through prompt engineering.
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What Does Paraphrasing Mean? Answered With Examples
Are you curious about what does paraphrasing mean? Learn about the definition of paraphrasing and how you can use it to create strong writing from your sources.
When writing an essay or non-fiction, figuring out what to say often involves researching primary and secondary sources. It involves taking research and transforming it into your own written words, without copying the original work word-for-word.
Effective writers of all types, especially those who write academic papers and essays, master the art of paraphrasing. Without paraphrasing, a piece of writing can become a bunch of quotations pieced together.
So what does paraphrasing mean, and how can you use it in your writing? This guide will take a closer look at this writing tool and how you can use it to transform your source materials into writing you can feel proud of.
What Does Paraphrasing Mean?
Types of paraphrasing, writers use paraphrasing to avoid plagiarism , tips to learn to paraphrase, identifying paraphrasing with examples .
Paraphrasing describes rephrasing someone’s idea and putting it in your own words. Even with paraphrasing, you must still use proper citations using APA or MLA format to avoid the consequences of plagiarism .
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary , a paraphrase is “a restatement of a text, passage, or work giving the meaning in another form.” When used as a verb, the definition of paraphrasing is “to make a paraphrase.” This word comes from the Latin word “paraphrasis” and from the Greek word “paraphrazein.”
Paraphrasing is putting source material in one’s own words. When paraphrasing, you use different words and synonyms to replace the author’s words. It involves creating a unique sentence structure, exhibiting your writing style, or using another form of rewording to ensure sentences differ from the original author’s exact words. Plagiarism, on the other hand, describes taking another writer’s work, either verbatim or without a citation, and passing it off as your own.
Learn more about the differences between paraphrasing vs plagiarism
Writers can use several types of paraphrasing to change the phrasing of their works. Some common ways to paraphrase include:
- Changing verb tenses: Changing from present tense to past tense can be a sufficient paraphrase.
- Using synonyms: Swapping out most words for a word with a similar meaning can create a paraphrase.
- Changing sentence structure: If the sentence follows the noun-verb-object format, you could switch it up to follow a different structure to create your paraphrase.
You can paraphrase in other ways, too, but these are three common ways that writers will transform a piece of research material and make it their own words for their paper.
Paraphrasing helps you avoid falling victim to plagiarism, a mistake that could put your grade in jeopardy. Directly pulling a quote from an original work is a serious infraction, especially without quotation marks and proper citation. Even pulling just a few phrases from the original work and not paraphrasing those bits unless those phrases are common knowledge facts, is plagiarism.
Writers often paraphrase to use works from an original source without pulling a direct quote. Paraphrasing is a common tool used in academic papers, but it also shows up in other writing types .
In order to successfully paraphrase, none of the wording can be the same as the original source material. Here is an example:
- Original source: The warm air rises over the ocean, then cools quickly. This cycle creates regular storms that can put ships at risk.
- Plagiarism: The warm air rises over the water, where it cools quickly. This cyclic nature of this process creates regular storms, which are not safe for ships.
- Paraphrase: The air from land is warm, but the temperature drops as it heads out to sea. This causes a cycle that can cause high winds and rain, which are not safe for ships.
In the second sentence, the phrases “warm air rises over” and “cools quickly” are repeated, which means it still shows plagiarism. The correct paraphrase changes the wording enough to be the new author’s words.
Citation and Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing does not eliminate the need to cite sources in your paper properly. Changing the wording or rephrasing the original passage still takes the original author’s ideas, and you cannot claim those as your own without proper credit.
Paraphrased ideas still need in-text citations according to the publication manual used for the research paper. The exception would be items considered common knowledge in the field. Examples of common knowledge information include:
- Things the reader would already know, including industry-specific information if you are writing for a particular audience.
- Facts most people know and accept, such as that the sky is blue.
- Information readers can find in common informational sources.
- Items from folklore that most people have heard.
Outside of examples like these, paraphrased information still requires a citation. Otherwise, you indicate the idea is your own when, in fact, it came from another author.
Paraphrasing Versus Summarizing
Paraphrasing may feel similar to summarizing, but these are not the same processes. When paraphrasing, take a passage and put it in your own words. The overall word count of what you write and what the original author said is usually the same.
Summarizing means taking a long work and boiling it down into a shortened, concise version. This process also involves rewording and using your own words, but the goal is to present the main points of the source material in a shorter form. Summarized information also should have a citation to show where the source came from.
Learn more about how to write a summary
Paraphrasing seems easy, but you may find it a bit more challenging than you thought when you start to work on the process. Transforming written works to make them uniquely yours is not as easy as you might think.
Here are some tips that might help:
- Gain a thorough understanding of the source materials because this makes paraphrasing easier.
- Re-read the passage from the original work several times to get its meaning into your mind.
- Close the book or article, and write the paraphrased sentences without referencing the original.
- After writing, check for phrases taken verbatim from the source material, and put them in quotes if you absolutely need them, or rephrase them more if you do not.
- Use the thesaurus to help if you need synonyms for words in the source material.
- Make sure the meaning is still what the original author intended, as sometimes you can pull words into the paraphrase that are not synonyms or have a completely different meaning than the original source.
- Use verbatim information only when completely necessary, and always use proper quotation marks and citations to show it is a direct quotation.
- Document all source material, even if it is for paraphrases.
Remember, if you doubt, cite the source material. It’s better to paraphrase and cite too often than to get caught plagiarizing.
Looking at examples of paraphrasing can help you understand how proper paraphrases might look in your paper or essay. After studying these examples, you will be ready to start using this tool in your writing.
- Original Source: His abrupt manner when he ended our dinner date made me angry.
- Paraphrase: I felt angry when he suddenly stopped the conversation and called for the check at the end of our date.
- Original Source: The elephant is known for its large size and excellent intelligence.
- Paraphrase: People know that elephants are big and have quite a bit of intelligence.
- Original Source: Many people adopted kittens at the “Clear the shelter” event.
- Paraphrase: Kittens found homes when kind-hearted adopters visited the shelter, as part of “Clear the shelter” day.
- Original Source: Hamlet is the most popular of Shakespeare’s plays among modern enthusiasts.
- Paraphrase: Though Shakespeare has several famous plays still performed today, Hamlet remains the one people like most.
Finally, if you’re concerned that you have incorrectly paraphrased a piece of writing, consider running it through the best plagiarism checker you can afford. These tools will usually identify missing citations and text taken verbatim without attribution.
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Vocabulary
What does paraphrase mean?
Definitions for paraphrase ˈpær əˌfreɪz para·phrase, here are all the possible meanings and translations of the word paraphrase ., princeton's wordnet 5.0 / 3 votes rate this definition:.
paraphrase, paraphrasis verb
rewording for the purpose of clarification
paraphrase, rephrase, reword verb
express the same message in different words
Wiktionary 4.7 / 3 votes Rate this definition:
paraphrase noun
a restatement of a text in different words, often to clarify meaning
a similar restatement as an educational exercise
paraphrase verb
to restate something as, or to compose a paraphrase
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary 0.0 / 0 votes Rate this definition:
PARAPHRASE noun
A loose interpretation; an explanation in many words.
Etymology: παϱάφϱασις; paraphrase, Fr.
All the laws of nations were but a paraphrase upon this standing rectitude of nature, that was ready to enlarge itself into suitable determinations, upon all emergent objects and occasions. Robert South , Sermons.
In paraphrase, or translation with latitude, the author’s words are not so strictly followed as his sense, and that too amplified, but not altered: such is Mr. Waller’s translation of Virgil ’s fourth Æneid. Dryden.
To Paraphrase verb
To interpret with laxity of expression; to translate loosely.
Etymology: paraphraser, Fr. παϱάφϱαζω.
We are put to construe and paraphrase our own words, to free ourselves from the ignorance and malice of our adversaries. Edward Stillingfleet , Def. of Dis. on Romish Idolatry.
What needs he paraphrase on what we mean, We were at worst but wanton; he’s obscene. Dryden.
Where translation is impracticable, they may paraphrase. —— But it is intolerable, that under a pretence of paraphrasing and translating, a way should be suffered of treating authors to a manifest disadvantage. Henry Felton , on the Classicks.
Wikipedia 0.0 / 0 votes Rate this definition:
A paraphrase () is a restatement of the meaning of a text or passage using other words. The term itself is derived via Latin paraphrasis, from Ancient Greek παράφρασις (paráphrasis) 'additional manner of expression'. The act of paraphrasing is also called paraphrasis.
Webster Dictionary 4.3 / 7 votes Rate this definition:
Paraphrase noun
a restatement of a text, passage, or work, expressing the meaning of the original in another form, generally for the sake of its clearer and fuller exposition; a setting forth the signification of a text in other and ampler terms; a free translation or rendering; -- opposed to metaphrase
Paraphrase verb
to express, interpret, or translate with latitude; to give the meaning of a passage in other language
to make a paraphrase
Etymology: [L. paraphrasis, Gr. para`frasis, from parafra`zein to say the same thing in other words; para` beside + fra`zein to speak: cf. F. paraphrase. See Para-, and Phrase.]
Freebase 3.0 / 3 votes Rate this definition:
A paraphrase is a restatement of the meaning of a text or passage using other words. The term itself is derived via Latin paraphrasis from Greek παράφρασις, meaning "additional manner of expression". The act of paraphrasing is also called "paraphrasis". A paraphrase typically explains or clarifies the text that is being paraphrased. For example, "The signal was red" might be paraphrased as "The train was not allowed to pass because the signal was red". A paraphrase is usually introduced with a verbum dicendi—a declaratory expression to signal the transition to the paraphrase. For example, in "The signal was red, that is, the train was not allowed to proceed," the that is signals the paraphrase that follows. A paraphrase does not need to accompany a direct quotation, but when this is so, the paraphrase typically serves to put the source's statement into perspective or to clarify the context in which it appeared. A paraphrase is typically more detailed than a summary. One should add the source at the end of the sentence, for example: When the light was red trains could not go. Paraphrase may attempt to preserve the essential meaning of the material being paraphrased. Thus, the reinterpretation of a source to infer a meaning that is not explicitly evident in the source itself qualifies as "original research," and not as paraphrase.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary 0.0 / 0 votes Rate this definition:
par′a-frāz, n. a saying of the same thing in other words, often more fully and more clearly: an explanation of a passage: a loose or free translation: ( Scot. ) one of a certain number of Scripture passages turned into verse for use in the service of praise.— v.t. to say the same thing in other words: to render more fully: to interpret or translate freely.— v.i. to make a paraphrase.— n. Par′aphrast , one who paraphrases.— adjs. Paraphrast′ic , -al , of the nature of a paraphrase: more clear and ample than the original passage: free, loose, diffuse.— adv. Paraphrast′ically .— Paraphrastic conjugation , one composed of the verb sum (am) with participial forms of the verbs conjugated ( amaturus sum , &c.). [Fr.,—L.,—Gr. paraphrasis — para , beside, phrasis , a speaking— phrazein , to speak.]
Matched Categories
How to pronounce paraphrase.
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How to say paraphrase in sign language?
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of paraphrase in Chaldean Numerology is: 9
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of paraphrase in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4
Examples of paraphrase in a Sentence
Kenneth Tynan :
At its best drama delightfully informs.. This may be a paraphrase but I think it captures the essence of what he said; provided he did say it and I'm not imagining things.
Coverage Gingrich :
So, to paraphrase Ted Cruz.
Robert Francis Kennedy :
Some men see things as they are and ask, 'why' I dream things that never were and ask, 'why not'NB This quote is a paraphrase from a similar quote by G. B. Shaw.
Dan Newman :
Silicon Valley provides a literal and metaphorical wealth of support for candidates. It's a community of people focused on the future, and of course, to paraphrase (bank robber) Willie Sutton, it's where the donors live.
Dr. Laura Schlessinger :
If you're bored, you're boring....get a life....try something new, take a class, be interesting. (This is not an exact quote but a paraphrase )
Popularity rank by frequency of use
Translations for paraphrase, from our multilingual translation dictionary.
- Umschreibung, paraphrasieren, umschreiben German
- parafrazo Esperanto
- paráfrasis, parafrasear Spanish
- paraphrase, paraphraser French
- átfogalmazás, körülírás Hungarian
- parafrazo Ido
- parafrasi Italian
- 引用する, 言い換える Japanese
- parafraza Polish
- parafrasear, paráfrase Portuguese
- perifraza, parafraza Romanian
- пересказ, парафраза, парафраз, парафразировать, пересказывать Russian
- falisi Swahili
- yorumlamak Turkish
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Paraphrase Tool
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What is a Paraphrase?
Paraphrase definition.
A paraphrase is a rewording of an original text, such as a document, essay, paragraph, or sentence, that retains the meaning of the original text while rephrasing its surface structure.
There are three many types of paraphrases:
Phrase variation refers to altering one phrase to another by changing the grammar or placement of elements in the sentence..
Example: There must be a new way of rewriting content if we are to succeed in our paraphrasing effort.
Paraphrase: If we are to be successful at paraphrasing, we need to have a new way of rewriting content.
Notice that in this paraphrase example, the grammar is changed substantially, with some verbs shifting to adjectives, and the subject shifting from ‘way’ to ‘we,’ making the sentence clearer.
Using Synonyms refers to substituting some words with other words that mean the same thing.
Example: The essay rewriter needed to paraphrase the documents.
Paraphrase: The essay rewriter needed to rephrase the documents.
Note that in the above example of paraphrase, only one word changes, paraphrase -> rephrase . Although there are good synonyms and synonyms are often important, their use represents the most superficial changes to a text.
For more on this point, check out our article on our sentence thesaurus .
Figurative to Literal Rephrasing is when you take a phrase that is in some sense metaphorical and reword it into something literal.
Example: He didn’t want to boil the ocean .
Paraphrase: He didn’t want to attempt to achieve more than was possible .
Literal to Figurative Rephrasing is when you take a phrase that is literal and rephrase it as something metaphorical.
Example: The character in the film passed away .
Paraphrase: The character in the film kicked the bucket .
These categories come from The Art of Paraphrase , written by the rhetorical scholar and professor, Frank D’Angelo.
To get the most out of your writing, try our paraphrasing tool .
To learn more, check out this paraphrase how to guide; it's always good to see examples of paraphrase, so you know what to expect.
About Paraphrase Tool
Getting your wording just right.
Paraphrasing is a natural part of the writing process as it helps you clarify your thinking and suit your words to your audience. Using a Paraphrase Tool helps structure and streamline this work, and our paraphrase tool offers 20 modes, many of them free, for accomplishing just this. The 20 modes we offer are diverse, including a summarize tool, a free grammar checker, a mode to simplify text, and a sentence shortener. There are sentence rephrasers and paraphrase rephrase tools, and we pride ourselves on having both, since our reword generator accounts for context at both the sentence and paragraph levels.
When you google paraphrase you will get a variety of results, from a free Paraphrase Tool , to an article spinner, to a general phrase tool, and it can be hard to determine which of these rephrase tools will best help you complete your work. If you simply need to get a word rephrase, that is, reword only small elements within the sentence, many tools will suffice, but there is the risk that you end up with a tool that does not consider context and produces very awkward and ungrammatical sentences. Rephrasing is very much an art, and we’ve built our paraphrase bot to produce the most correct results in 20 modes in over 100 languages, making it the best paraphrasing tool at an exceptionally low cost. So whether you need to paraphrase deutsch, paraphrase greek, or paraphrase bahasa melayu, the next time you think, I need something to paraphrase this for me, you’ll know where to turn.
From Keywords to Paragraphs
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A paragraph generator creates links between your ideas, such that the output is sensible, unique, and stimulating, very close to what you would expect a thoughtful human paragraph writer to produce.
Paragraph makers are nice, but what about a short story generator? Because our AI is generalized, it serves a story generator, an essay generator, a poem generator, and much more. To generate compelling stories, you should provide the story generator with useful keywords from which it can develop plot elements, including characters, setting details, and any situational information. To generate reasonably good essays, you should likewise provide the essay maker with details around argumentative positions and any other pertinent ideas. If you more specifically want an introduction paragraph generator or conclusion paragraph generator, you can provide starter text and keywords that will best enable our essay creator to produce them.
You may well ask, “is this essay generator free?” Everything on this site is free within a 3-day trial, so you can test and develop confidence in our products. You may also be wondering where this is an essay automatic writer or if it will take a while to get results. All results appear within a matter of seconds, so you can move through your work as quickly as possible.
You may have professional needs for creating paragraphs as well, such as those needed for cover letter. Most of the time a cover letter template includes information that is not relevant to you; by using your own keywords, we can produce cover letter examples that are relevant to your use case and often require very little editing. By using this service, you can also learn how to write a cover letter and achieve the cover letter format you need.
Plagiarism Checker Free
Like everything else on our site, you can check plagiarism free within a trial, which is a great opportunity for those who want to check a paper for plagiarism without committing to paying before they see results. This free plagiarism checker is great for students and clearly indicates how to check for plagiarism by highlighting areas of similarity between the two texts. Just to be sure you are not accidentally plagiarizing, be sure to check all of your paraphrases as well.
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Paraphrase: Write It in Your Own Words
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This handout is intended to help you become more comfortable with the uses of and distinctions among quotations, paraphrases, and summaries. This handout compares and contrasts the three terms, gives some pointers, and includes a short excerpt that you can use to practice these skills.
Paraphrasing is one way to use a text in your own writing without directly quoting source material. Anytime you are taking information from a source that is not your own, you need to specify where you got that information.
A paraphrase is...
- Your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new form.
- One legitimate way (when accompanied by accurate documentation) to borrow from a source.
- A more detailed restatement than a summary, which focuses concisely on a single main idea.
Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because...
- It is better than quoting information from an undistinguished passage.
- It helps you control the temptation to quote too much.
- The mental process required for successful paraphrasing helps you to grasp the full meaning of the original.
6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing
- Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
- Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.
- Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision using this material. At the top of the note card, write a key word or phrase to indicate the subject of your paraphrase.
- Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all the essential information in a new form.
- Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed exactly from the source.
- Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that you can credit it easily if you decide to incorporate the material into your paper.
Some examples to compare
Note that the examples in this section use MLA style for in-text citation.
The original passage:
Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers . 2nd ed., 1976, pp. 46-47.
A legitimate paraphrase:
In research papers, students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47).
An acceptable summary:
Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47).
A plagiarized version:
Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.
A note about plagiarism: This example has been classed as plagiarism, in part, because of its failure to deploy any citation. Plagiarism is a serious offense in the academic world. However, we acknowledge that plagiarism is a difficult term to define; that its definition may be contextually sensitive; and that not all instances of plagiarism are created equal—that is, there are varying “degrees of egregiousness” for different cases of plagiarism.
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Meaning of paraphrase in English
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- din something into someone
- drum something into someone
- flog yourself to death idiom
- regurgitate
- reiteration
- repetitively
- restatement
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- I would take issue with your paraphrase of my position .
- She does not follow Shakespeare's text but has devised her own paraphrase of it.
- Allow me to end my first speech with my own paraphrase of the statement .
paraphrase | Intermediate English
Examples of paraphrase, translations of paraphrase.
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Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms
- An Introduction to Punctuation
- Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
- M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
- B.A., English, State University of New York
A paraphrase is a restatement of a text in another form or other words, often to simplify or clarify meaning .
"When you paraphrase," says Brenda Spatt, "you retain everything about the original writing but the words."
"When I put down words that I say somebody said they needn't be the exact words, just what you might call the meaning." (Mark Harris, The Southpaw . Bobbs-Merrill, 1953
Paraphrasing Steve Jobs
"I've often heard Steve [Jobs] explain why Apple's products look so good or work so well by telling the 'show car' anecdote . 'You see a show car,' he would say (I'm paraphrasing here, but this is pretty close to his words), 'and you think, "That's a great design, it's got great lines." Four or five years later, the car is in the showroom and in television ads, and it sucks. And you wonder what happened. They had it. They had it, and then they lost it.'" (Jay Elliot with William Simon, The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation . Vanguard, 2011
Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotation
"A summary , written in your own words, briefly restates the writer's main points. Paraphrase , although written in your own words, is used to relate the details or the progression of an idea in your source. Quotation , used sparingly, can lend credibility to your work or capture a memorable passage." (L. Behrens, A Sequence for Academic Writing . Longman, 2009
How to Paraphrase a Text
" Paraphrase passages that present important points, explanations, or arguments but that don't contain memorable or straightforward wording. Follow these steps: (R. VanderMey, The College Writer . Houghton, 2007
- Quickly review the passage to get a sense of the whole, and then go through the passage carefully, sentence by sentence.
- State the ideas in your own words, defining words as needed.
- If necessary, edit for clarity, but don't change the meaning.
- If you borrow phrases directly, put them in quotation marks .
- Check your paraphrase against the original for accurate tone and meaning."
Reasons for Using Paraphrase
" Paraphrasing helps your readers to gain a detailed understanding of your sources , and, indirectly, to accept your thesis as valid. There are two major reasons for using paraphrase in your essays .
1. Use paraphrase to present information or evidence whenever there is no special reason for using a direct quotation . . . . 2. Use paraphrase to give your readers an accurate and comprehensive account of ideas taken from a source--ideas that you intend to explain, interpret, or disagree with in your essay. . . .
"When you take notes for an essay based on one or more sources, you should mostly paraphrase. Quote only when recording phrases or sentences that clearly merit quotation. All quotable phrases and sentences should be transcribed accurately in your notes, with quotation marks separating the paraphrase from the quotation." (Brenda Spatt, Writing From Sources , 8th ed. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011
Paraphrase as a Rhetorical Exercise
"A paraphrase differs from a translation in not being a transfer from one language to another. . . . We generally associate with paraphrase the notion of an expansion of the original thought by definitions , periphrasis , examples , etc., with a view to making it more intelligible; but this is not essential. Here is meant the simpler form, in which the pupil reproduces in his own words the complete thought of an author, without attempting to explain it or to imitate the style .
"It has been frequently urged against this exercise, that, in thus substituting other words for those of an accurate writer, we must necessarily choose such as are less expressive of the sense. It has, however, been defended by one of the greatest rhetoricians-- Quintilian ." (Andrew D. Hepburn, Manual of English Rhetoric , 1875
Monty Python and Computer Paraphrasing
"In the famous sketch from the TV show 'Monty Python's Flying Circus,' the actor John Cleese had many ways of saying a parrot was dead, among them, 'This parrot is no more,' 'He's expired and gone to meet his maker,' and 'His metabolic processes are now history.'
"Computers can't do nearly that well at paraphrasing . English sentences with the same meaning take so many different forms that it has been difficult to get computers to recognize paraphrases, much less produce them. "Now, using several methods, including statistical techniques borrowed from gene analysis, two researchers have created a program that can automatically generate paraphrases of English sentences." (A. Eisenberg, "Get Me Rewrite!" The New York Times , Dec. 25, 2003
The Lighter Side of Paraphrasing
"Some guy hit my fender the other day, and I said unto him, 'Be fruitful, and multiply.' But not in those words.” (Woody Allen) "The other important joke for me is one that's usually attributed to Groucho Marx, but I think it appears originally in Freud's Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious . And it goes like this--I'm paraphrasing --'I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member.' That's the key joke of my adult life in terms of my relationships with women." (Woody Allen as Alvy Singer in Annie Hall , 1977)
Pronunciation: PAR-a-fraz
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/woman-working-in-a-coffee-shop-174457185-57f2bde45f9b586c3590bca8.jpg "paraphrase means what")
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paraphrased; paraphrases; paraphrasing
The verb paraphrase means to sum something up or clarify a statement by rephrasing it. So to paraphrase that explanation, it means to say something in other, simpler words.
If you break paraphrase down, you end up with the prefix para , meaning "beside," and the word phrase — so think of paraphrase as coming up with similar, more simple phrases that go beside the ones already said. You might paraphrase your teacher’s lesson because you want to simplify her complicated technical language, or because you forgot exactly what she said but remember the general meaning.
- verb express the same message in different words synonyms: rephrase , reword see more see less types: translate express, as in simple and less technical language type of: ingeminate , iterate , reiterate , repeat , restate , retell to say, state, or perform again
- noun rewording for the purpose of clarification synonyms: paraphrasis see more see less types: translation rewording something in less technical terminology type of: recasting , rephrasing , rewording changing a particular word or phrase
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Paraphrasing - an overview
Paraphrasing is ..., what are the differences between quoting, paraphrasing & summarising .
- Why Paraphrase?
- Paraphrasing versus Plagiarism
- The Do's and Don'ts of Paraphrasing
- Paraphrasing - examples
- Further Information
Paraphrasing is 'a restating of someone else’s thoughts or ideas in your own words. You must always cite your source when paraphrasing’ (Pears & Shields, 2019 p. 245).
(Solas English, 2017)
- Quoting means using someone else’s exact words and putting them in quotation marks..
- Paraphrasing means expressing someone else’s ideas in your own voice, while keeping the same essential meaning.
- Summarising means taking a long passage of text from someone else and condensing the main ideas in your own words.
Watch the video below for more information.
(UNC Writing Center, 2019)
- Next: Why Paraphrase? >>
- Last Updated: Mar 23, 2022 12:41 PM
- URL: https://lit.libguides.com/paraphrasing
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- paraphrase (verb)
- paraphrase (noun)
- He paraphrased the quote.
- She frequently paraphrases (the words of) famous authors in her lectures.
- I'm paraphrasing , but he did say something like that.
- This is just a paraphrase of what he said, not an exact quote.
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Thesaurus Definition of paraphrase
(Entry 1 of 2)
Synonyms & Similar Words
- translation
- translating
- restatement
- reiteration
- recapitulation
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- transcription
Thesaurus Definition of paraphrase (Entry 2 of 2)
- recapitulate
Thesaurus Entries Near paraphrase
paraphernalia
paraphrased
Cite this Entry
“Paraphrase.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/paraphrase. Accessed 5 Mar. 2023.
More from Merriam-Webster on paraphrase
Nglish: Translation of paraphrase for Spanish Speakers
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Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about paraphrase
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par·a·phrase
Par•a•phrase, paraphrasis, paraphrase.
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para· phrase ˈper-ə-ˌfrāz ˈpa-rə- Synonyms of paraphrase 1 : a restatement of a text, passage, or work giving the meaning in another form The teacher asked the students to write a paraphrase of the poem. 2 : the use or process of paraphrasing in studying or teaching composition
paraphrase / ( ˈpærəˌfreɪz) / noun an expression of a statement or text in other words, esp in order to clarify the practice of making paraphrases verb to put (something) into other words; restate (something) Derived forms of paraphrase paraphrastic (ˌpærəˈfræstɪk ), adjective Word Origin for paraphrase
A paraphrase (or paraphrasing) is a restatement of another piece of writing with new words or phrases while keeping the same meaning, usually to modify the language or simply avoid plagiarism. For example, Shakespeare's famous line, "To be or not to be," could be paraphrased as, "Is it better to exist or not exist at all?"
Paraphrasing means putting someone else's ideas into your own words. Paraphrasing a source involves changing the wording while preserving the original meaning. Paraphrasing is an alternative to quoting (copying someone's exact words and putting them in quotation marks ).
Simply, to paraphrase is to take information from a source and put it into one's own words. In general, paraphrases are approximately the same length as the original information, which...
What is a Paraphrase? A paraphrase (pronounced par - uh -freyz) is a restatement or rewording of a paragraph or text, in order to borrow, clarify, or expand on information without plagiarizing. Paraphrasing is an important tool to use when writing research papers, essays, and pieces of journalism. II. Examples of Paraphrasing
Paraphrase Definition. Paraphrasing is the restatement of a text or a method of retaining ideas in a way slightly different from the original passage. However, different dictionaries might have different meanings for this word. According to Merriam Webster, paraphrasing is ...
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a paraphrase is "a restatement of a text, passage, or work giving the meaning in another form." When used as a verb, the definition of paraphrasing is "to make a paraphrase." This word comes from the Latin word "paraphrasis" and from the Greek word "paraphrazein."
Rephrases text with the most inventiveness and expression. Expand Adds more detail and depth in order to lengthen the text. Shorten Conveys the meaning of a text with conciseness and clarity. QuillBot's tools are the best QuillBot's Paraphraser is fast, free, and easy to use, which makes it the best paraphrasing tool on the market.
Meaning of paraphrase. What does paraphrase mean? Information and translations of paraphrase in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. Login .
A paraphrase is a rewording of an original text, such as a document, essay, paragraph, or sentence, that retains the meaning of the original text while rephrasing its surface structure. There are three many types of paraphrases:
paraphrase verb [ T ] us / ˈpær·əˌfreɪz / to state something written or spoken in different words, esp. in a shorter and simpler form to make the meaning clearer: I'll have to paraphrase it because I didn't get a chance to memorize it. (Definition of paraphrase from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
Paraphrase: Write It in Your Own Words Paraphrase: Write It in Your Own Words Paraphrasing is one way to use a text in your own writing without directly quoting source material. Anytime you are taking information from a source that is not your own, you need to specify where you got that information. PARTNER CONTENT
paraphrase verb [ T ] us / ˈpær·əˌfreɪz / to state something written or spoken in different words, esp. in a shorter and simpler form to make the meaning clearer: I'll have to paraphrase it because I didn't get a chance to memorize it. (Definition of paraphrase from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
A paraphrase is a restatement of a text in another form or other words, often to simplify or clarify meaning . "When you paraphrase," says Brenda Spatt, "you retain everything about the original writing but the words." Meaning "When I put down words that I say somebody said they needn't be the exact words, just what you might call the meaning."
The verb paraphrase means to sum something up or clarify a statement by rephrasing it. So to paraphrase that explanation, it means to say something in other, simpler words.
As a verb, "to paraphrase" means "to express the meaning of the writer or speaker (or something written or spoken) using different words, especially to achieve greater clarity." As a noun, "paraphrase" is defined as "a rewording of something written or spoken by someone else." Noun Paraphrase
Paraphrasing means 'to state something written or spoken in different words, especially in a shorter and simpler form to make the meaning clearer' (Cambridge Online Dictionary, 2022). Paraphrasing is 'a restating of someone else's thoughts or ideas in your own words.
Britannica Dictionary definition of PARAPHRASE. : to say (something that someone else has said or written) using different words. [+ object] He paraphrased the quote. She frequently paraphrases (the words of) famous authors in her lectures. [no object] I'm paraphrasing, but he did say something like that. 2 paraphrase / ˈ perəˌfreɪz/ noun ...
Synonyms for PARAPHRASE: translation, translating, restatement, summary, rephrasing, restating, rewording, rehash; Antonyms of PARAPHRASE: quotation, quote, copy ...
A paraphrase ( / ˈpærəˌfreɪz /) is a restatement of the meaning of a text or passage using other words. The term itself is derived via Latin paraphrasis, from Ancient Greek παράφρασις (paráphrasis) 'additional manner of expression'. The act of paraphrasing is also called paraphrasis . History [ edit]
Define paraphrase. paraphrase synonyms, paraphrase pronunciation, paraphrase translation, English dictionary definition of paraphrase. n. 1. A restatement of a text or passage in another form or other words, often to clarify meaning. 2. The restatement of texts in other words as a studying...
Paraphrase definition: If you paraphrase someone or paraphrase something that they have said or written , you... | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples