What is Phrase?

In linguistics, a phrase is a group of words (or possibly a single word) that functions as a single unit within the syntax of a sentence. Phrases are typically built around a head word, which determines the phrase's category. Common types of phrases include noun phrases (e.g., "the big red ball"), verb phrases (e.g., "is running quickly"), adjective phrases (e.g., "very happy"), adverb phrases (e.g., "quite slowly"), and prepositional phrases (e.g., "over the rainbow"). Phrases are used to create more complex sentences by combining multiple units of meaning.