synchronicadj.
/sɪnˈkrɒnɪk/, /sɪŋˈkrɒnɪk/, U.S. /sɪŋˈkrɑnɪk/ 1. = synchronous adj. 1a, 1b rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > simultaneity or contemporaneousness > [adjective]
altogether?c1400
concurrent1495
contemporana1500
unison1582
coincident1598
coetaneal1614
coactivea1616
contemporal1621
synchronisticalc1624
coetanean1625
coetaneous1649
coinstantanean1652
synchronical1652
simultal1654
contemporary1656
contemporaneous1659
simultaneousa1660
coevous1660
synchronal1660
coexistent1662
implicit1662
synchronous1669
coexistinga1676
synchronistic1685
coeval1714
contemporany1721
synchronizinga1727
joint1765
coinstantaneous1768
consentaneous1775
coinciding1786
conterminating1805
synchronic1833
coincidental1845
parallel1859
homochronous1876
monochronic1905
co-occurring1951
co-occurrent1954
1833 C. Lamb in Athenæum 26 Jan. 57/1 At the interposition of the synchronic miracle.
1887 A. Heilprin Geogr. & Geol. Distribution Animals ii. ii. 231 The want of synchronic correspondence..between..closely related assemblages of fossil remains.
2. = synchronical adj. 2. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > simultaneity or contemporaneousness > [adjective] > synchronized or isochronous
synchronical1660
synchronous1677
isochronal1680
isochron1697
isochronous1706
isochronic1780
isochronical1794
synchronal1876
synchronic1892
in-phase1914
synchronized1919
phased1929
1892 Harper's Mag. Sept. 507 Whose many leaves showed light or dark, synchronic with the breeze.
3. Linguistics. [translating French synchronique (F. de Saussure a1913, in Cours de linguistique générale (1916) iii. 117).] Pertaining to or designating a method of linguistic study concerned with the state of a language at one time, past or present; descriptive, as opposed to historical or diachronic. Also transferred in Anthropology, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > other schools of linguistics > [adjective] > synchrony, diacrony, or panchrony
synchronic1922
diachronic1927
panchronic1931
diachronistic1933
diachronous1936
synchronous1936
synchronistic1937
panchronistic1949
synchronical1949
1922 L. Bloomfield in Classical Weekly 13 Mar. 142/1 One is glad to see, therefore, that Dr. Sapir deals with synchronic matters (to use De Saussure's terminology) before he deals with diachronic.
1927 Mod. Philol. No. 218 De Saussure..outlines the relation of ‘synchronic’ to ‘diachronic’ linguistics.
1937 J. Orr tr. I. Iordan Introd. Romance Linguistics iii. 194 His [sc. Gilliéron's] linguistic is descriptive, or, in the Saussurian terminology, ‘synchronic’.
1946 Word 2 124 Synchronic semasiology..deals with..polysemantism, affective-value, onomatopy and congeners.
1954 Amer. Anthropologist 56 398 In synchronic studies of national character, we are discussing not the origins of the culture or the society, but the process of learning of identifiable human beings living within that society at a given period.
1968 Jrnl. Assoc. Teachers of Russian 17 8 A synchronic study of a language studies the language of a particular period without reference to what went before or came after, and in practice the period in question is generally our own.
1975 Listener 20 Mar. 367/3 Though the ‘synchronic’ approach of the semiologists is for the moment more fashionable, it is impossible not to be interested in the history of social myths.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1919; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1833