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anacoluthon

[an-uh-kuh-loo-thon]
noun, plural an·a·co·lu·tha [an-uh-kuh-loo-thuh] /ˌæn ə kəˈlu θə/. Rhetoric.
  1. a construction involving a break in grammatical sequence, as It makes me so—I just get angry.
  2. an instance of anacoluthia.
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Origin of anacoluthon

1700–10; < Greek anakólouthon, neuter of anakólouthos not following, equivalent to an- an-1 + akólouthos marching together (a- together + kolouth-, gradational variant of keleuth- road, march + -os adj. suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for anacoluthon

Historical Examples

  • The anacoluthon in Mk iv, 31, is avoided by Matthew and Luke.

    Sources of the Synoptic Gospels

    Carl S. Patton

  • Anacoluthon, a want of grammatical and logical sequence in the structure of a sentence.

  • A breakdown like this—an anacoluthon, as the grammarians call it—is nothing strange in Paul's style.

British Dictionary definitions for anacoluthon

anacoluthon

noun plural -tha (-θə)
  1. rhetoric a construction that involves the change from one grammatical sequence to another within a single sentence; an example of anacoluthia
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Word Origin

C18: from Late Latin, from Greek anakolouthon, from anakolouthos not consistent, from an- + akolouthos following
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for anacoluthon

n.

"want of grammatical sequence; changing constructions in mid-clause," 1706, from Latinized form of Greek anakoluthon, neuter of anakolouthos "inconsequent," from an- "not" (see an- (1)) + akolouthos "following," from copulative prefix a- + keleuthos "way, road, track, path" (see celerity).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper