syncretic

American  

[sin-kret-ik] / sɪnˈkrɛt ɪk /

Also syncretistic rarely syncretical

adjective

1. combining or bringing together different philosophical, religious, or cultural principles and practices.

   The Afro-Brazilian religion is syncretic, mingling the pantheon, practices, and beliefs brought to South America by enslaved Yorubans with the Catholicism of colonial European culture.

   Exceptional syncretic murals can be found at the site, the work of Indigenous artists who struggled with and adapted unfamiliar European subject matter after the Spanish Conquest.

2. Grammar. relating to or describing the merging of two or more inflectional categories into one.

   When word forms in a paradigm are syncretic, they can result in grammatical ambiguity because one form can have multiple functions.

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Etymology

Origin of syncretic

syncret(ism) ( def. ) + -ic

Example Sentences

Syncretic Santería beliefs remain strong on the island, particularly among the Afro-Cuban population.

From The Guardian • Sep. 18, 2015

The Syncretic march of mind rectifies the above error—with them, weakness is strength.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, September 12, 1841 by Various

I have no less than four hundred and ninety-five acts of dramatic composition, which have been rejected even by the Syncretic Association.

From Punch, or the London Charivari. Volume 1, July 31, 1841 by Various

Messrs. Stephens, Heraud, and Co., to exhibit, gratis, a Syncretic Tragedy, with fireworks and tumbling, according to law, between the acts; to be followed by a lecture on the Unactable Drama.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, September 5, 1841 by Various