Definition of Syllepsis

1. Noun. Use of a word to govern two or more words though agreeing in number or case etc. with only one.

Generic synonyms: Zeugma

Definition of Syllepsis

1. n. A figure of speech by which a word is used in a literal and metaphorical sense at the same time.

Definition of Syllepsis

1. Noun. (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 ¹

2. Noun. (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. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Syllepsis

1. [n -LEPSES]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Syllepsis

syllabized
syllabizes
syllabizing
syllable
syllable structure
syllabled
syllables
syllabling
syllabogram
syllabograms
syllabub
syllabubs
syllabus
syllabuses
syllepses
syllepsis (current term)
sylleptic
sylloge
sylloges
syllogise
syllogiser
syllogism
syllogisms
syllogismus
syllogist
syllogistic
syllogistical
syllogistically
syllogists
syllogization

Literary usage of Syllepsis

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the French Tongue: In which the by Jean-Pons-Victor Lecoutz de Levizac, Stephen Pasquier (1833)
"There is likewise a syllepsis in these sentences : Je crains qu'il ne vienne. ... There is again a very elegant syllepsis in-sentences like the following ..."

2. A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the French Language: In which the by Levizac (Jean Pons Victor Lecoutz), Anthony Bolmar (1844)
"The syllepsis is a figure by which a word relates more to our meaning than ... There is likewise a syllepsis in these sentences : Je crains qu'il ne vienne. ..."

3. Forensic Oratory: A Manual for Advocates by William Callyhan Robinson (1893)
"Figures of Words : Natural Meaning: Ellipsis: Hyperbaton : syllepsis : Pleonasm. Of the four figures of words employed in their natural meaning, ..."

4. Forensic Oratory: A Manual for Advocates by William Callyhan Robinson (1893)
"Figures of Words: Natural Meaning: Ellipsis: Hyperbaton : syllepsis : Pleonasm. Of the four figures of words employed in their natural meaning, ..."

5. The English Language in Its Elements and Forms: With a History of Its Origin by William Chauncey Fowler (1855)
"syllepsis, from the Greek avA^jp/tff, taken together, is a trope by which a word is taken in two senses, the literal and the metaphorical; when we conceive ..."

6. A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the French Tongue: In which the by Jean-Pons-Victor Lecoutz de Levizac, Stephen Pasquier (1833)
"There is likewise a syllepsis in these sentences : Je crains qu'il ne vienne. ... There is again a very elegant syllepsis in-sentences like the following ..."

7. A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the French Language: In which the by Levizac (Jean Pons Victor Lecoutz), Anthony Bolmar (1844)
"The syllepsis is a figure by which a word relates more to our meaning than ... There is likewise a syllepsis in these sentences : Je crains qu'il ne vienne. ..."

8. Forensic Oratory: A Manual for Advocates by William Callyhan Robinson (1893)
"Figures of Words : Natural Meaning: Ellipsis: Hyperbaton : syllepsis : Pleonasm. Of the four figures of words employed in their natural meaning, ..."

9. Forensic Oratory: A Manual for Advocates by William Callyhan Robinson (1893)
"Figures of Words: Natural Meaning: Ellipsis: Hyperbaton : syllepsis : Pleonasm. Of the four figures of words employed in their natural meaning, ..."

10. The English Language in Its Elements and Forms: With a History of Its Origin by William Chauncey Fowler (1855)
"syllepsis, from the Greek avA^jp/tff, taken together, is a trope by which a word is taken in two senses, the literal and the metaphorical; when we conceive ..."

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