Sol"e*cism (?), n.[F. sol'ecisme, L. soloecismus, Gr. soloikismo`s, fr. soloiki`zein to speak or write incorrectly, fr. so`loikos speaking incorrectly, from the corruption of the Attic dialect among the Athenian colonists of So`loi in Cilicia.]

1.

An impropriety or incongruity of language in the combination of words or parts of a sentence; esp., deviation from the idiom of a language or from the rules of syntax.

A barbarism may be in one word; a solecism must be of more. Johnson.

2.

Any inconsistency, unfitness, absurdity, or impropriety, as in deeds or manners.

Caesar, by dismissing his guards and retaining his power, committed a dangerous solecism in politics. C. Middleton.

The idea of having committed the slightest solecism in politeness was agony to him. Sir W. Scott.

Syn. -- Barbarism; impropriety; absurdity.

 

© Webster 1913.

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