Lexic.us

Definition of Metathesis

1. Noun. A linguistic process of transposition of sounds or syllables within a word or words within a sentence.

2. Noun. A chemical reaction between two compounds in which parts of each are interchanged to form two new compounds (AB+CD=AD+CB).

Definition of Metathesis

1. n. Transposition, as of the letters or syllables of a word; as, pistris for pristis; meagre for meager.

Definition of Metathesis

1. Noun. (prosody) the transposition of letters, syllables or sounds within a word, such as in ask as /æks/ ¹

2. Noun. (inorganic chemistry) the double decomposition of inorganic salts ¹

3. Noun. (organic chemistry) the breaking and reforming of double bonds in olefins in which substituent groups are swapped ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Metathesis

1. [n -THESES]

Medical Definition of Metathesis

1. Origin: L, fr. Gr. Metathesis, fr. Metatithenai to place differently, to transpose; meta beyond, over + tithenai to place, set. See Thesis. 1. Transposition, as of the letters or syllables of a word; as, pistris for pristis; meagre for meager. 2. A mere change in place of a morbid substance, without removal from the body. 3. The act, process, or result of exchange, substitution, or replacement of atoms and radicals; thus, by metathesis an acid gives up all or part of its hydrogen, takes on an equivalent amount of a metal or base, and forms a salt. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Metathesis

metatectic metatectoid metatemplate metates metatextual metatextualities metatextuality metathalamus metatheatrical metatheoretical

metatheoretically metatherian metatherians metatheses metathesiophobia metathesis (current term) metathesize metathesized metathesizes metathesizing

metathetic metathetical metathetically metathinking metathoraces metathoracic metathorax metathoraxes metathought metathoughts

Literary usage of Metathesis

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

1. Modern Philology: Its Discoveries, History, and Influence by Benjamin Woodbridge Dwight (1864)
"(5) metathesis occurs occasionally in English as in the ancient languages. This change in the relative order of the letters of a radical word sometimes ..."

2. Grammar of the Greek Language, for the Use of High Schools and Colleges by Raphael Kühner, Bela Bates Edwards (1844)
"metathesis, § 22, occurs in the formation of the tenses of several verbs, ... In the Common language, the following verbs are subject to metathesis ..."

3. A Grammar of the Homeric Dialect by David Binning Monro (1891)
"metathesis. This term has been employed to explain a number of forms in which a ... In these and many similar cases ' metathesis ' is out of the question. ..."

4. Inorganic Chemistry by Ira Remsen (1898)
"metathesis.—This is the most common kind of chemical action, and indeed from what has been said in regard to direct combination and direct decomposition it ..."

5. Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry: A Course of Laboratory and Classroom Study by Arthur Alphonzo Blanchard, Joseph Warren Phelan (1922)
"metathesis metathesis, or double decomposition, is one of the main types of chemical reaction, and it takes place between two compounds, consisting merely ..."

6. The Mechanism of Evolution in Leptinotarsa by William Lawrence Tower, Joseph Kumler Breitenbecher (1918)
"metathesis OF GAMETIC AGENTS. Certain facts with regard to the behavior of ... (2) In all observed instances of metathesis the interchange is always between ..."

7. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences by New York Academy of Sciences (1917)
"... though of less importance than syncope, is metathesis. This seems to obtain in certain cases of favored combinations of consonants, ..."

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