phrasing

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of phrase

plural phrasings

1. The way a statement is put together, particularly in matters of style and word choice.

   But for the Sir Walter disease, the character of the Southerner -- or Southron, according to Sir Walter's starchier way of phrasing it -- would be wholly modern, in place of modern and medieval mixed, and the South would be fully a generation further advanced than it is.

   1870, Mark Twain, chapter 46, in Life on the Mississippi, archived from the original on 11 Aug 2014

   Synonyms: wording, wordage, talk, terminology, wording, verbiage

2. entertainmentThe way the musical phrases are put together in a composition or in its interpretation, with changes in tempo, volume, or emphasizing one or more instruments over others.

   I found myself truly moved by a stage event for the first time in years. I found myself humming tunes that one might not rightfully call tunes. Days later, I still remember these musical phrasings in little swatches of sound.

   1977 August 13, Jim Marko, “Swados' Rare and Moving Nightclub Cantata”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 6, page 11