solecism

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“
The philologist finds that the corruption of language dates from ancient times: solecism originally referred to the violation of proper Attic dialect by the Athenian colonists at Soloi in Cilicia.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A nonstandard usage or grammatical construction.
  2. noun A violation of etiquette.
  3. noun An impropriety, mistake, or incongruity.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples

  • The Jacobins are decidedly adverse to it; and it is a sort of revolutionary solecism, that those who boast of having been the original destroyers of despotism, are now the advocates of arbitrary imprisonment, and restraints on the freedom of the press. —  A Residence in France During the Years 1792 1793 1794 and 1795
  • [Comenius calls the hexameter a solecism, I suppose, on account of the false quantity it contains in the word minora], reproaching my inconsiderateness. —  The Life of John Milton
  • The philologist finds that the corruption of language dates from ancient times: solecism originally referred to the violation of proper Attic dialect by the Athenian colonists at Soloi in Cilicia. —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol X No 4
  • His tone in part mimics the disdain of Simon's; and besides the signs of tarnish already noted, Garner is guilty of what Simon considers, on pp. 44,172, and 186, to be an egregious solecism: using the indicative in place of the subjunctive (can, quoted above, for could). —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol IX No 3
  • "Yes." —  Cry Mercy Cry Love
 

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin soloecismus, from Greek soloikismos, from soloikizein, to speak incorrectly, from soloikos, speaking incorrectly, after Soloi (Soli), an Athenian colony in Cilicia where a dialect regarded as substandard was spoken.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Old French solecisme, French solécisme = Spanish Portuguese Italian solecismo = German solöcismus, from Latin solœcismus, from Greek σολοικισ, σ1μός, from σολοικίζειν, speak or write incorrectly, be rude or awkward in manner, from σόλοικος, speaking incorrectly, using provincialisms (οἱ σολοικοί, foreigners), also awkward or rude in manners: said to have meant orig. ‘speaking or acting like an inhabitant of Soli,’ from Σόλοι, L, Soli, Soloe, a town in Cilicia, a place said to have been colonized by Athenian emigrants (afterward called Pompeiopolis, now Mezetli), or, according to another account, by Argives and Lydians from Rhodes. Others refer the word to another town. Soli. Σόλοι, in Cyprus.
 

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/ˈsɑləsɪzm/
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