having reference to the facts of a linguistic system as it exists at one point in time without reference to its history: synchronic analysis; synchronic dialectology.
1833 shortening of synchronical (1652), from L.L. synchronus "simultaneous" (see synchronous). Linguistic sense is first recorded 1922, probably a borrowing from Fr. synchronique (de Saussure, 1913).
[sin-kron-ik, sing-] 
ɪk