syncretism

[ sing-kri-tiz-uhm, sin- ]

noun
  1. the attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles, practices, or parties, as in philosophy or religion.

  2. Grammar. the merging, as by historical change in a language, of two or more categories in a specified environment into one, as, in nonstandard English, the use of was with both singular and plural subjects, while in standard English was is used with singular subjects (except for you in the second person singular) and were with plural subjects.

Origin of syncretism

1
First recorded in 1610–20; from New Latin syncretismus, from Greek synkrētismós “union of Cretans,” i.e., a united front of two opposing parties against a common foe, derivative of synkrēt(ízein) “to form a confederation” (see syncretize) + -ismos noun suffix (see -ism)

Other words from syncretism

  • syn·cret·ic [sin-kret-ik], /sɪnˈkrɛt ɪk/, syn·cret·i·cal, syn·cre·tis·tic [sing-kri-tis-tik, sin-], /ˌsɪŋ krɪˈtɪs tɪk, ˌsɪn-/, adjective
  • syn·cre·tist, noun

Words Nearby syncretism

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use syncretism in a sentence

  • Those which now pass for Christian in western Europe are the result of the syncretism of two thousand years.

    Folkways | William Graham Sumner

British Dictionary definitions for syncretism

syncretism

/ (ˈsɪŋkrɪˌtɪzəm) /


noun
  1. the tendency to syncretize

  2. the historical tendency of languages to reduce their use of inflection, as in the development of Old English with all its case endings into Modern English

Origin of syncretism

1
C17: from New Latin syncrētismus, from Greek sunkrētismos alliance of Cretans, from sunkrētizein to join forces (in the manner of the Cretan towns), from syn- + Krēs a Cretan

Derived forms of syncretism

  • syncretic (sɪŋˈkrɛtɪk) or syncretistic, adjective
  • syncretist, noun

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