Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A construction in which a form, such as a pronoun, differs in number but agrees in meaning with the word governing it, as in If the group becomes too large, we can split them in two.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In grammar and rhetoric, construction according to the sense, in violation of strict syntax.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A construction in which adherence to some element in the sense causes a departure from strict syntax, as in “Philip went down to Samaria and preached Christ unto
them .”
Etymologies
- Greek sunesis, union, understanding, from sunīenai, to understand, bring together : sun-, syn- + hīenai, to send, hurl; see yē- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Philosopher says that things connected with prudence "seem to be natural," namely "synesis, gnome" [* _synesis_ and _gnome_, Cf. I-II,”
“Aristotle says (Ethic. vi, 9, 10, 11) that "good counsel," "synesis" and”
“The incontinent man so fails because he has failed to cultivate the appropriate virtues that would enable him to size up the situation correctly (synesis) and deliberate well about it”
“Hence it is necessary to judge of such matters according to higher principles than the common laws, according to which _synesis_ judges: and corresponding to such higher principles it is necessary to have a higher virtue of judgment, which is called _gnome, _ and which denotes a certain discrimination in judgment.”
“Objection 1: It would seem that _gnome_ is not a special virtue distinct from _synesis.”
“_I answer that, _ _synesis_ signifies a right judgment, not indeed about speculative matters, but about particular practical matters, about which also is prudence.”
“Therefore, just as "eubulia" which refers to counsel, is connected with prudence, and "synesis" and "gnome" which refer to judgment, so also ought something to have been assigned corresponding to use.”
“Secondly indirectly, through the good disposition of the appetitive power, the result being that one judges well of the objects of appetite: and thus a good judgment of virtue results from the habits of moral virtue; but this judgment is about the ends, whereas _synesis_ is rather about the means.”
“Objection 1: It would seem that _synesis_ is not a virtue.”
“Therefore _synesis_ extends to all matters of judgment, and consequently there is no other virtue of good judgment called _gnome.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘synesis’.
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Words of the day
The list of Wordnik words of the day.
panurgic, chapfallen, billingsgate, latration, witticaster, slitheroo, rux, crotchet, mirliton, arenose, ruelle, jane-of-apes and 76 more...
Telofy Yeah, I was always explaining this (to myself) as a feature of collective nouns in BrE—one I somewhat miss in AmE. Thanks for the new term. :-) Nov 29, 2009
pterodactyl As, for example, in the phrase "My family are all coming home for Thanksgiving." See the Wikipedia entry for a full description. Nov 29, 2009
mialuthien See constructio ad sensum. Jul 22, 2008