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| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
| a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes. |
| synesthesia (ˌsɪniːsˈθiːzɪə) | |
| —n | |
| the usual US spelling of synaesthesia | |
| synesthetic | |
| —adj | |
synesthesia syn·es·the·sia (sĭn'ĭs-thē'zhə)
n.
A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color.
A sensation felt in one part of the body as a result of stimulus that is applied to another, as in referred pain.
synesthesia
a condition in which one type of sensory stimulation creates perception in another sense. The most common form of synesthesia is called "coloured hearing," where a person experiences a visual sensation when receiving an auditory signal (for example, hearing the musical tone C and seeing the colour red). Although tone-colour relationships are not identical for all people, there are general uniformities: the deeper a musical note, the darker the colour. Similar colour perceptions, called photisms, may accompany sensations of taste, touch, pain, smell, or temperature. Synesthesia has been used as a literary device by poets as diverse as Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Rimbaud, Hart Crane, and Dame Edith Sitwell.
Learn more about synesthesia with a free trial on Britannica.com.