Syndesis

//sɪnˈdiːsɪs// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Synonym of arthrodesis, the artificial fusion of a joint between two or more bones. uncountable, usually
  2. 2
    Synonym of syndeton, the use of conjunctions or syndetic constructions. rhetoric, uncountable, usually
  3. 3
    Synonym of synapsis, the pairing of chromosomes during cellular reproduction. obsolete, uncountable, usually

Etymology

Initially in cytology from German Syndesis, coined by Valentin Häcker in 1904 from Ancient Greek σύνδεσις (súndesis, “binding, joining”), from συνδεῖν (sundeîn, “to join, to bind”) + -σῐς (-sĭs, “-sis: forming nouns”), from σῠν- (sŭn-, “together”) + δεῖν (deîn, “to bind, to tie”). Equivalent to syn- + -desis.

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