anacoluthon
/ænəkəˈluːθɒn/ noun
Forms anacolutha anacoluthons anacolouthon
- noun (grammar) A sentence or clause that is grammatically inconsistent, especially with respect to the type of clausal or phrasal complement for the initial clause.
- noun (rhetoric) Intentional use of such a structure.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Late Latin anacolūthon, from Ancient Greek ἀνακόλουθον (anakólouthon, “without sequence, anomalous [of inflections or grammatical constructions]”), from ἀ(ν)- (a(n)-, “un-”) + ἀκόλουθος (akólouthos, “following”). Compare English non sequitur, from an analogous Latin phrase, denoting a different but related concept.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A want of grammatical sequence or coherence in a sentence; an instance of a change of construction in a sentence so that the latter part does not syntactically correspond with the first part.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “anacoluthon”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details