Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Syllepsis
‖
1.
(Rhet.)
A figure of speech by which a word is used in a literal and metaphorical sense at the same time.
2.
(Gram.)
The agreement of a verb or adjective with one, rather than another, of two nouns, with either of which it might agree in gender, number, etc.; as, rex et regina beati.
Webster 1828 Edition
Syllepsis
SYLLEP'SIS
,Noun.
1.
In grammar, a figure by which we conceive the sense of words otherwise than the words import, and construe them according to the intention of the author; otherwise called substitution.2.
The agreement of a verb or adjective, not with the word next to it, but with the most worthy in the sentence; as, rex et regina beati.Definition 2024
Syllepsis
syllepsis
syllepsis
See also: Syllepsis
English
Noun
syllepsis (countable and uncountable, plural syllepses)
| Examples (rhetoric) |
|---|
|
She lowered her standards by raising her glass, Her courage, her eyes and his hopes. |
- (rhetoric) A figure of speech in which one word simultaneously modifies two or more other words such that the modification must be understood differently with respect to each modified word; often causing humorous incongruity
- (botany) Growth in which lateral branches develop from a lateral meristem, without the formation of a bud or period of dormancy, when the lateral meristem is split from a terminal meristem.
Antonyms
- (botany): prolepsis
Coordinate terms
- (rhetoric): zeugma
Hypernyms
- (rhetoric): brachylogy
Related terms
Translations
figure of speech
botany: growth of branches without dormancy
References
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈsyl.le.psis/, [ˈsʏl.lɛ.psɪs]
Noun
syllepsis f (genitive syllepsis); third declension
Inflection
Third declension, alternative accusative singular in -im, alternative ablative singular in -ī and accusative plural in -īs.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | syllepsis | syllepsēs |
| genitive | syllepsis | syllepsium |
| dative | syllepsī | syllepsibus |
| accusative | syllepsem syllepsim |
syllepsēs syllepsīs |
| ablative | syllepse syllepsī |
syllepsibus |
| vocative | syllepsis | syllepsēs |
References
- syllepsis in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press