 | WordWeight : Weighing the Words |
| WordWeight : Weighing the Words |
Solecism
Pronunciation : Sol"e*cism
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [F. sol?cisme, L. soloecismus, Gr. soloikismo`s, fr. soloiki`zein to speak or write incorrectly, fr. so`loikos speaking incorrectly, from the corruption of the Attic dialect among the Athenian colonists of So`loi in Cilicia.]
Definition : 1. An impropriety or incongruity of language in the combination of words or parts of a sentence; esp., deviation from the idiom of a language or from the rules of syntax. A barbarism may be in one word; a solecism must be of more. Johnson.
2. Any inconsistency, unfitness, absurdity, or impropriety, as in deeds or manners. C?sar, by dismissing his guards and retaining his power, committed a dangerous solecism in politics. C. Middleton. The idea of having committed the slightest solecism in politeness was agony to him. Sir W. Scott.
Syn. -- Barbarism; impropriety; absurdity.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
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