Chiastic
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Pertaining to chiasmus.
"1981 [Gerstenberg/Research Press], John W. Welch, Chiasmus In Ancient Greek and Latin Literatures, John W. Welch (editor), Chiasmus in Antiquity, 2020, Wipf and Stock, page 261, In the Aeneid, Vergil uses chiasmus in order to make his poetry smoother and more picturesque. Many lines could be quoted in which a chiastic order of words was necessary to maintain the dactylic hexameter."
- 2 Pertaining to the position of two things relative to one another. broadly
"A chiastic⁹⁸ plotting of the passage illustrates beyond doubt that the disciple has to be identified with the Master."
Example
More examples"1981 [Gerstenberg/Research Press], John W. Welch, Chiasmus In Ancient Greek and Latin Literatures, John W. Welch (editor), Chiasmus in Antiquity, 2020, Wipf and Stock, page 261, In the Aeneid, Vergil uses chiasmus in order to make his poetry smoother and more picturesque. Many lines could be quoted in which a chiastic order of words was necessary to maintain the dactylic hexameter."
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.