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Expression vs Proverb - What's the difference?

expression | proverb |

As nouns the difference between expression and proverb

is that expression is a particular way of phrasing an idea while proverb is a phrase expressing a basic truth which may be applied to common situations.

As a verb proverb is

to write or utter proverbs.

expression

Noun

(en noun)
  • A particular way of phrasing an idea.
  • A colloquialism or idiom.
  • A facial appearance usually associated with an emotion.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=9 citation , passage=Eustace gaped at him in amazement. When his urbanity dropped away from him, as now, he had an innocence of expression which was almost infantile. It was as if the world had never touched him at all.}}
  • (mathematics) An arrangement of symbols denoting values, operations performed on them, and grouping symbols.
  • (biology) The process of translating a gene into a protein.
  • (programming) A piece of code in a high-level language that returns a value.
  • Of a mother, the process of expressing milk.
  • Derived terms

    * arithmetic expression * linguistic expression * logical expression * regular expression * expression pedal

    Statistics

    * ----

    proverb

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A phrase expressing a basic truth which may be applied to common situations.
  • A striking or paradoxical assertion; an obscure saying; an enigma; a parable.
  • * Bible, John xvi. 29
  • His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb .
  • A familiar illustration; a subject of contemptuous reference.
  • * Bible, Deuteronomy xxviii. 37
  • Thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb , and a by word, among all nations.
  • A drama exemplifying a proverb.
  • Synonyms

    * (phrase expressing a basic truth) adage, apothegm, byword, maxim, paroemia, saw, saying, sententia * See also

    Derived terms

    * proverbial * proverbiology * proverbs hunt in pairs

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To write or utter proverbs.
  • To name in, or as, a proverb.
  • * 1671 , John Milton, Samson Agonistes , lines 203-205:
  • Am I not sung and proverbed for a fool / In every street, do they not say, "How well / Are come upon him his deserts?"
  • To provide with a proverb.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I am proverbed with a grandsire phrase.
    (Webster 1913)

    See also

    * ----