In this article a comparative analysis of different interpretations of the terms text, speech product, phrase is carried out on the material of dictionary definitions. Most notable is the difference between existing approaches to the interpretation of the term phrase. With such a divergence of views on this concept in Russian and foreign linguistics a solution ofthis terminological issue is associated with one of the derivatives from the root morpheme phras-, in terms with a meaning. greater than a sentence' for example, in russ. sverhfrazovoje edinstvo, dt. transphrastische Grammatik, engl. transphrastic linguistics, etc. Practice does not reveal any significant differences between Russian and foreign linguists in the interpretation of these derivatives.