SOLECISM • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Solecism

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noun

Solecism n.

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."

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." "The idea of having committed the slightest solecism in politeness was agony to him."

Synonyms: Barbarism; impropriety; absurdity.

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Etymology of 'Solecism'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Solecism" Quotes from Famous Books

... though, that the blacks, when drinking at a river or water-hole, invariably scoop up the water with their hands, and never put their mouths right down close to the surface of the water. Well, one day I was guilty of this solecism. I had been out on a hunting expedition, and reached the water-hole with an intense burning thirst. My mentor was not with me. I fell on my knees and fairly buried my face in the life-giving fluid. Suddenly I heard murmurs behind me. I turned presently and saw a party of my blacks ...

— The Adventures of Louis de Rougemont - as told by Himself • Louis de Rougemont

... models, and is not to be accused of artificiality, but to be credited with a true sincerity of selection in juxtaposing his soft corals and carnations and gleaming topaz, amethyst, and sapphire hues. The most exacting literalist can hardly accuse them of solecism in their rendering of nature, true as it is that their decorative sense is so strong as to lead them to impose on nature their own sentiment instead of yielding themselves to absorption in hers, and thus, ...

— French Art - Classic and Contemporary Painting and Sculpture • W. C. Brownell

... name, so is your comely face Touch'd everywhere with such diffused grace, As that in all that admirable round There is not one least solecism found; And as that part, so every portion else Keeps line ...

— The Hesperides & Noble Numbers: Vol. 1 and 2 • Robert Herrick

... much money to spend. It added nothing to him if he had much, it took nothing from him if he had little.' A sharp fellow who worked, and a stupid fellow who was idle, were both of them in good odour enough, but a stupid boy who presumed to work was held to be an insufferable solecism.[25] ...

— The Life of William Ewart Gladstone, Vol. 1 (of 3) - 1809-1859 • John Morley

... and shape into any form they please. It should be remembered, as an axiom of eternal truth in politics, that whatever power in any government is independent, is absolute also.... A judiciary independent of a king or executive alone is a good thing; but independence of the will of the nation is a solecism, at least in a republican government." But Marshall was mighty and his view prevailed, though from time to time other men, clinging to Jefferson's opinion, likewise opposed the exercise by the Courts of the high power of passing ...

— History of the United States • Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard

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