Dictionary

antiproverb en · NOUN

Etymology

Coined by paremiologist Wolfgang Mieder in 1982, anti- + proverb.

Meanings

1. A humorous adaptation of one or more existing proverbs.
   • The system isn’t broken. It’s fixed.¶ Another species of anti-proverb, this one plays on the phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” which seems to have emerged in the 1960s. 2015 April 16, David Shariatmadari, “Are these 11 proverbs for the digital age?”, in The Guardian:
2. A proverb that contradicts another.
   • But for every proverb there is an antiproverb ("Too many cooks spoil the broth" vs. "Two heads are better than one," and so on). 1987, Howard Margolis, Patterns, Thinking, and Cognition: A Theory of Judgment, page 92:

Forms

Coordinates

antijoke

Hyponyms

perverb

Relateds

malaphor

Translations (5)

pl antyprzysłowie (a humorous adaptation of a proverb) · fr antiparémie (a humorous adaptation of a proverb) · pt antiprovérbio (a humorous adaptation of a proverb) · fi väännös sananlaskusta (a humorous adaptation of a proverb) · de Antisprichwort (a humorous adaptation of a proverb)