anacoluthon

[ an-uh-kuh-loo-thon ]

noun,plural an·a·co·lu·tha

[an-uh-kuh-loo-thuh]. /ˌæn ə kəˈlu θə/. Rhetoric.

a construction involving a break in grammatical sequence, as It makes me so—I just get angry.
an instance of anacoluthia.

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

Words Nearby anacoluthon

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use anacoluthon in a sentence

A breakdown like this—an anacoluthon, as the grammarians call it—is nothing strange in Paul's style.
The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Galatians | G. G. Findlay
It contains another anacoluthon (or incoherence of language), due to the surge of feeling remarked in ver.
The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Galatians | G. G. Findlay
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.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 2 | Various

British Dictionary definitions for anacoluthon

anacoluthon

/ (ˌænəkəˈluːθɒn) /

nounplural -tha (-θə)

rhetoric a construction that involves the change from one grammatical sequence to another within a single sentence; an example of anacoluthia

Origin of anacoluthon

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

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