heteroclite
/ˈhɛtəɹəʊklaɪt/
heteroclite adjective: irregularly declined or inflected.
Adjective
heteroclite (comparative more heteroclite, superlative most heteroclite)
- Irregularly declined or inflected.
- Deviating from the ordinary rule; eccentric, abnormal.
- he was, on the contrary, as mercurial and sublimated a composition, […] as heteroclite a creature in all his declensions; […] with as much life and whim, and gaité de cœur about him, as the kindliest climate could have engendered and put together.1759, Laurence Sterne, The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Penguin, published 2003, page 24
- Nor could I have dreamed the heteroclite crew-men I had met aboard Tzadkiel's ship […]1987, Gene Wolfe, chapter XLVIII, in The Urth of the New Sun, 1st US edition, New York: Tor Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 281
Noun
heteroclite (plural heteroclites)
- An irregularly declined or inflected word.
- A word whose etymological roots come from distinct, different languages or language groups.
- A person who is unconventional; a maverick.
- Synonyms:
- free spirit
heteroclite meaning in Tamil, Bengali and Kannada
heteroclite in Tamil
- செவ்வொழுங்கு மீறிய
heteroclite in Bengali
- অস্বাভাবিক, নিয়মবহির্ভূত
Synonyms of heteroclite
Forms of heteroclite
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more heteroclite |
| superlative | most heteroclite |
| Noun | |
| plural | heteroclites |
Origin of heteroclite
From Late Latin heteroclitus, from Ancient Greek ἑτερόκλιτος (heteróklitos), from ἕτερος (héteros, “other, another, different”) + κλίνω (klínō, “lean, incline”), the latter from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley-.
Words formed from heteroclite
Questions about heteroclite
- What does heteroclite mean?
- Heteroclite means irregularly declined or inflected.
- What is heteroclite in Tamil?
- Heteroclite in Tamil is செவ்வொழுங்கு மீறிய. See Heteroclite meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is heteroclite?
- Heteroclite can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce heteroclite?
- Heteroclite is pronounced /ˈhɛtəɹəʊklaɪt/.
Words near heteroclite in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: heteroclite (page history and authors); heteroclite (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); heteroclite (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); heteroclite (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-heteroclite.wav.
Cite this entry: “heteroclite.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/heteroclite. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.