3 results for: Metatheses

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

me·tath·e·sis

Audio Help [muh-tath-uh-sis] Pronunciation Key

–noun, plural -ses

1.	the transposition of letters, syllables, or sounds in a word, as in the pronunciation Audio Help [kuhmf-ter-buhl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation for comfortable or (aks) for ask.

2.	Chemistry. double decomposition.

[Origin: 1600–10; < LL: transposition of letters of a word < Gk metáthesis transposition. See meta-, thesis

]

—Related forms

met·a·thet·ic

Audio Help [met-uh-thet-ik] Pronunciation Key, met·a·thet·i·cal, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Metatheses

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

me·tath·e·sis Audio Help (mĭ-tāth'ĭ-sĭs) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. me·tath·e·ses (-sēz')

Linguistics Transposition within a word of letters, sounds, or syllables, as in the change from Old English brid to modern English bird or in the confusion of modren for modern.
Chemistry Double decomposition.

[Late Latin, from Greek, from metatithenai, to transpose : meta-, meta- + tithenai, to place; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.]

met'a·thet'ic (mět'ə-thět'ĭk), met'a·thet'i·cal adj., met'a·thet'i·cal·ly adv.

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