solecism
/ˈsɑləsɪzəm/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.13 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "[…]to suppose that the general concern of this Country can be directed by thirteen heads, or one head without competent powers, is a solecism, the bad effects of which every Man who has had the practical knowledge to judge from, that I have, is fully convinced of; tho' none perhaps has felt them in so forcible, and distressing a degree."
- "Why leave the non-enumerated articles, covered by the act of 1864, subject only to this lower rate of duty? Why this distinction? Such a result would, we think, be a solecism, and contrary to the spirit and purpose of the act. It cannot reasonably be supposed that such was the intent of the clause in question."
- "For this reason she was fond of seeing great crowds and large stretches of country, of reading about revolutions and wars, of looking at historical pictures—a class of efforts as to which she had often committed the conscious solecism of forgiving them much bad painting for the sake of the subject."
- "The "simple" metaphor, such as the instance given, becomes the "continued" metaphor when the analogy or similitude is worked out in a series of phrases and expressions based on the primary metaphor; it is in such "continued metaphors" that the solecism of "mixed" metaphors is likely to occur."
- "Eliot and Gertrude Stein had a solemn conversation, mostly about split infinitives and other grammatical solecisms and why Gertrude Stein used them."
- "Prepositions are also prone to particular solecisms and infelicities."
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French solecisme, soloëcisme (French solécisme) or its etymon Latin soloecismus, from Ancient Greek σολοικισμός (soloikismós), from σόλοικος (sóloikos, “speaking incorrectly”), from Σόλοι (Sóloi), an ancient Athenian colony in Cilicia whose inhabitants spoke a dialect regarded by Athenians as a corrupted and barbarous form of Attic Greek. Compare Atticism.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: solecisme,soloëcisme, soloecismus, σολοικισμός
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsɑləsɪzəm/
- British English: /ˈsɒlɪsɪzəm/