syllepsis
/sɪˈlɛpsɪs
/noun (plural syllepses /sɪˈlɛpsiːz/)
1A figure of speech in which a word is applied to two others of which it grammatically suits only one (e.g. neither they nor it is working).Probably the most common type, however, is syllepsis, where a word is understood differently in relation to two or more other words which it modifies or governs....
- A strong syllepsis in French, ‘Mauvais Genres’ was the title of an exhibit and debate where ‘gore’ and horror film and literature were explored.
- More complex instances of authorial disruptions might be labeled narratological syllepses.
1.1 another term for zeugma.
Derivatives
sylleptic
sylleptically
Origin
Late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek sullēpsis 'taking together'.
Rhymes
- complain
- complainant
- complainer
- complainingly
- complaint
- complaisance
- complaisant
- compleat
- complected
- complement
- complemental
- complementarily
- complementariness
- complementarity
- complementary
- complementary angle
- complementary colour
- complementary distribution
- complementary DNA
- complementary function
- complementary medicine
- complementation
- complement fixation test
- complementiser
- complementizer