What does "synchysis" mean?

A complicated, interlocking word-order pattern in early Latin verse, demonstrated by Virgil and his contemporaries.

What is a synonym for "synchysis"?

Common synonyms include: hysteron proteron, metastasis, palindrome, parenthesis.

Pronounced //ˈsɪn.kə.sɪs//.

//ˈsɪn.kə.sɪs// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A complicated, interlocking word-order pattern in early Latin verse, demonstrated by Virgil and his contemporaries. countable, uncountable
2
Confused arrangement of words in a sentence countable, rhetoric, uncountable
3
A confused mixture. countable, uncountable
4
Fluidity of the vitreous humour of the eye. countable, uncountable

Through Latin from the Ancient Greek σύγχυσις (súnkhusis, “a mixing”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.