parafras

Parafras is commonly understood as the restatement of a text in different words, while preserving the essential meaning and information of the original. It is used across writing, education, and research to clarify content, adapt it for a new audience, or show understanding without copying exact phrasing. Parafras is distinct from translation, which renders text into another language, and from summarization, which condenses content without necessarily preserving all details.

The term derives from Greek roots meaning “beside” and “to speak.” In many languages the related forms include parafrasis, paráfrasis, or paraphrase, with Parafras appearing as a loanword or proper noun in some contexts. As a process, parafrasing can vary in style, tone, and formality, ranging from simple synonym substitution to complete rephrasing of sentence structure.

In practice, parafras is widely used in education to demonstrate comprehension, in writing to avoid plagiarism, and in analysis to discuss sources without reproducing them verbatim. It is also a focus area in natural language processing, where automatic parafras generation aims to produce semantically equivalent but differently worded sentences. Techniques include rule-based rewrites, thesaurus-based substitutions, and neural network models, with evaluation emphasizing semantic equivalence and readability.

Cautions include the risk of altering nuance or intended emphasis, and the need to credit original authors where appropriate. Parafras should aim to preserve intent and factual content while improving clarity or accessibility. See also paraphrase, paraphrasing, translation, and summarization.