syllepsis
the use of a word or expression to perform two syntactic functions, especially to modify two or more words of which at least one does not agree in number, case, or gender, as the use ofare in Neither he nor we are willing.: Compare zeugma.
Origin of syllepsis
1Other words from syllepsis
- syl·lep·tic [si-lep-tik], /sɪˈlɛp tɪk/, adjective
- syl·lep·ti·cal·ly, adverb
Words Nearby syllepsis
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use syllepsis in a sentence
The upmating of the persons, called in Greek syllepsis, touches the use of the personal pronouns.
An Outline of English Speech-craft | William BarnesFor Ovid's use of syllepsis, see at vi 16 spem nostram terras deseruitque simul (p 234).
The Last Poems of Ovid | Ovid
British Dictionary definitions for syllepsis
/ (sɪˈlɛpsɪs) /
(in grammar or rhetoric) the use of a single sentence construction in which a verb, adjective, etc is made to cover two syntactical functions, as the verb form have in she and they have promised to come
another word for zeugma
Origin of syllepsis
1Derived forms of syllepsis
- sylleptic, adjective
- sylleptically, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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