Adjacent Words

Solecism definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SOL'ECISM, n.
1. Impropriety in language, or a gross deviation from the rules of syntax; incongruity of words; want of correspondence or consistency. A barbarism may be in one word; a solecism must be of more.
2. Any unfitness, absurdity or impropriety. Cesar, by dismissing his guards and retaining his power, committed a dangerous solecism in politics.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a socially awkward or tactless act [syn: faux pas, gaffe, solecism, slip, gaucherie]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Latin soloecismus, from Greek soloikismos, from soloikos speaking incorrectly, literally, inhabitant of Soloi, from Soloi, city in ancient Cilicia where a substandard form of Attic was spoken Date: circa 1555 1. an ungrammatical combination of words in a sentence; also a minor blunder in speech 2. something deviating from the proper, normal, or accepted order 3. a breach of etiquette or decorum • solecistic adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a mistake of grammar or idiom; a blunder in the manner of speaking or writing. 2 a piece of bad manners or incorrect behaviour. Derivatives: solecist n. solecistic adj. Etymology: F solécisme or L soloecismus f. Gk soloikismos f. soloikos speaking incorrectly

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Solecism Sol"e*cism, n.[F. sol['e]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.] 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[ae]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.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Impropriety (in the use of language), error, mistake, blunder, incongruity, barbarism. 2. Impropriety, absurdity, breach of form.

Moby Thesaurus

Irish bull, anachronism, anacoluthon, antiphrasis, argument, argument by analogy, argumentum ad baculum, argumentum ad captandum, argumentum ad hominem, bad case, barbarism, begging the question, bloomer, blooper, blunder, boner, boo-boo, boob, botch, breach, break, bull, bungle, catachresis, circular argument, claptrap, corruption, crowd-pleasing argument, empty words, error, fallacy, fault, faux pas, flub, fluff, folk etymology, formal fallacy, fumble, gaffe, gaucherie, grammatical error, hypercorrection, hyperform, hysteron proteron, impropriety, incongruity, inconsistency, indecorum, indiscretion, infelicity, insincere argument, lapse, logical fallacy, malaprop, malapropism, marrowsky, material fallacy, mere rhetoric, misconstruction, mispronunciation, missaying, mistake, misusage, moonshine, non sequitur, paralogism, petitio principii, philosophism, pseudosyllogism, slip, sophism, sophistry, spoonerism, stupidity, ungrammaticism, verbal fallacy, vernacularism, violation, vulgarism, weak point