Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The study of the rules whereby words or other elements of sentence structure are combined to form grammatical sentences.
- n. A publication, such as a book, that presents such rules.
- n. The pattern of formation of sentences or phrases in a language.
- n. Such a pattern in a particular sentence or discourse.
- n. Computer Science The rules governing the formation of statements in a programming language.
- n. A systematic, orderly arrangement.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Connected system or order; union of things.
- n. In grammar, the construction of sentences; the due forming and arrangement of words or members of sentences in their mutual relations according to established usage. Syntax includes the proper use of parts of speech and of forms in their combinations to make sentences, and their proper arrangement or collocation.
Wiktionary
- n. A set of rules that govern how words are combined to form phrases and sentences.
- n. computing, countable The formal rules of formulating the statements of a computer language.
- n. linguistics The study of the structure of phrases, sentences and language.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. obsolete Connected system or order; union of things; a number of things jointed together; organism.
- n. That part of grammar which treats of the construction of sentences; the due arrangement of words in sentences in their necessary relations, according to established usage in any language.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences
- n. studies of the rules for forming admissible sentences
- n. a systematic orderly arrangement
Etymologies
- Ancient Greek σύνταξις (suntaksis), from σύν (sun, "together") + τάξις (taksis, "arrangement"), from τάσσω (tassō, "I arrange"). (Wiktionary)
- French syntaxe, from Late Latin syntaxis, from Greek suntaxis, from suntassein, to put in order : sun-, syn- + tassein, tag-, to arrange. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Screen has a sorendition command that can be used to change the attributes Screen uses for highlighting messages (you can find the command in the man-page and the syntax is also described there, although the description is a bit cryptic).”
“The error is, WindowsError: [Error 123] The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.”
“Details: The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.”
“The syntax is as elaborate and intricate as any Celtic decoration, and wound up with it if you follow all along, around, in, through and over is the meaning.”
“As you can imagine, the “by” syntax is similar to “via” and “RT”, but not quite the same.”
New microsyntax for Twitter: three pointers and the slasher | FactoryCity
“Generally an edit will include correcting errors in syntax (spelling, punctuation & grammar) a line edit or a proofread, with notes or observations on the character development, plot structure and clarity.”
“This sort of syntax is understandable coming from a first - or second-grader, but from a 17-year-old it is downright appalling, Riley said.”
Matthew Yglesias » The Bush Family Stamping on a Human Face Forever
“Grammar and syntax is another very complicated part of learning English.”
Common Goals For Studying English As a Second Language « Esl Articles « Articles « Literacy News
“First, this medieval syntax is a bit hard on my eyes (please see #4 here).”
Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » Frank Murdock’s Review Forum
“Until recently I used Markdown for this purpose; its syntax is very light and readable, and it produces very clean HTML which is relatively easy to style with CSS.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘syntax’.
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Language
word, sentence, novel, book, novella, vignette, memoir, anthology, paragraph, stanza, poem, haiku and 123 more...
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goodkitten's list
there is going to be a lot of words...
flammivomous, pep, electrolyzation, research, constrain, why, refrigerator, invisible, windblown, curate's egg, echoism, drumble and 103 more...
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TECH - web application frameworks
limit, pack, automatic, HTTP, database, poi, event, coverage, core, hibernate, function, product and 310 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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webdev
random webdev lingo used primarily in computer programming.
( open list, randomness, technical jargon, geek speak )
more:
ajax, user, admin, frontend, backend, database, sql, protocol, call, dom, layout, ui and 439 more... -
GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
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Vocabulary
shibboleth, verboten, jejune, ostensible, multifarious, quintessence, purportedly, tangential, vacillate, quagmire, wanton, onerous and 74 more...
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::: Words I llike the DEFINITIONS of :::
The dichotomy of a word .... and yes *dichotomy* would be on this very list.
inflection, syntax, morpheme, oneiric, phantasmagoria, poetess, convalescence, thoughtful, sober, searching, deep, meaningful and 1 more...
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Pedantic distinctions
Put the two words next to each other. Pedants of the world pen your pet peeves here!
syntax, grammar, imply, infer, comprise, compose, effect, affect, insure, ensure, uninterested, disinterested and 21 more...
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syn-, sym-, syl-
united; acting or considered together
sympathy, syllogism, synthesis, synonym, synaesthesia, synecdoche, synagogue, syzygy, symbiosis, system, idiosyncratic, idiosyncracy and 3 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1826 more...
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Morphemes
morphemes greek and latin prefixes, suffixes and roots.
http://www.learnthat.org/vocabulary/pages/view/roots.htmlkinein, matic, thermo, a-, ob-, pro-, inflection, semantics, syntax, derivational suff..., inflectional suff..., morpheme and 87 more...
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Terms for AP Lit
This list is designed to be a reference for my AP Lit. students
metonymy, synecdoche, metaphor, simile, litotes, satire, irony, sarcasm, invective, bathos, broadside, characterization and 28 more...
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ecbrenner's list
flatline, luddism, apocalipstick, muttsucker, leviathan of fore..., flint, coryphaeus, donnybrook, bandwidth, bagpipe the mizen, cheesed off, asterism and 525 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for syntax.

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