syllepsis
[ si-lep-sis ]
/ sɪˈlɛp sɪs /
noun, plural syl·lep·ses [si-lep-seez] /sɪˈlɛp siz/. Grammar.
the use of a word or expression to perform two syntactic functions, especially to modify two or more words of which at least one does not agree in number, case, or gender, as the use of are in Neither he nor we are willing.
Compare
zeugma.
Origin of syllepsis
OTHER WORDS FROM syllepsis
syl·lep·tic [si-lep-tik] /sɪˈlɛp tɪk/, adjective syl·lep·ti·cal·ly, adverbWords nearby syllepsis
syllable-timed,
syllabogram,
syllabography,
syllabub,
syllabus,
syllepsis,
syllogism,
syllogist,
syllogistic,
syllogize,
sylph
Example sentences from the Web for syllepsis
For Ovid's use of syllepsis, see at vi 16 spem nostram terras deseruitque simul (p 234).
The Last Poems of Ovid |OvidThe upmating of the persons, called in Greek syllepsis, touches the use of the personal pronouns.
An Outline of English Speech-craft |William Barnes
British Dictionary definitions for syllepsis
syllepsis
/ (sɪˈlɛpsɪs) /
noun plural -ses (-siːz)
(in grammar or rhetoric) the use of a single sentence construction in which a verb, adjective, etc is made to cover two syntactical functions, as the verb form have in she and they have promised to come
another word for zeugma
Derived forms of syllepsis
sylleptic, adjective sylleptically, adverbWord Origin for syllepsis
C16: from Late Latin, from Greek
sullēpsis, from
sul-
syn- +
lēpsis a taking, from
lambanein to take