Word.ws English Dictionary

synaeresis

/sɪˈnɪəɹɪsɪs/

synaeresis noun: the contraction of two vowels into a diphthong or a long vowel.

Noun

synaeresis (countable and uncountable, plural synaereses)

  1. (rhetoric) The contraction of two vowels into a diphthong or a long vowel.
  2. The separating out of the liquid from a gel.

Forms of synaeresis

pluralsynaereses
alternative uncommonsynairesis
alternative USsyneresis
alternative form (dated)synæresis

Origin of synaeresis

From Ancient Greek συναίρεσις (sunaíresis, “unification”), from συν- (sun-, “together”) + αἵρεσις (haíresis, “taking”), from αἱρέω (hairéō, “to take”).

Words formed from synaeresis

Questions about synaeresis

What does synaeresis mean?
Synaeresis means the contraction of two vowels into a diphthong or a long vowel.
What part of speech is synaeresis?
Synaeresis is a noun.
How do you pronounce synaeresis?
Synaeresis is pronounced /sɪˈnɪəɹɪsɪs/.
What is the plural of synaeresis?
The plural of synaeresis is synaereses.

Words near synaeresis in the dictionary

  1. synacmy
  2. synactic
  3. synadelphic
  4. synadelphite
  5. synaereses
  6. synaeresis
  7. synaeretic
  8. synaesthesia
  9. synaesthesiae
  10. synaesthesias
  11. synaesthete

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: synaeresis (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-synaeresis.wav.

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