elision
Americannoun
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the omission of a vowel, consonant, or syllable in pronunciation.
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(in verse) the omission of a vowel at the end of one word when the next word begins with a vowel, as th'angel.
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an act or instance of eliding or omitting anything.
noun
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the omission of a syllable or vowel at the beginning or end of a word, esp when a word ending with a vowel is next to one beginning with a vowel
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any omission of a part or parts
Etymology
Origin of elision
First recorded in 1575–85; from Latin ēlīsiōn- (stem of ēlīsiō ) a striking out, equivalent to ēlīs ( us ) (past participle of ēlīdere; see elide) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Leaving something out is an elision. If the movie version of your favorite book leaves out the most exciting plot line, it's because the director made an elision. Elision has its roots in the Latin word elidere, which means "to crush out." A government censor who blacks out the names of people or places in a document is making an elision, and so is an editor who removes passages from an article to make it shorter or clearer. The editor probably thinks of the elision as a clean, businesslike cut, but the writer might indeed feel crushed.
Vocabulary lists containing elision
Literary Devices & Figures of Speech - Advanced
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Reading: Literature - Literary Devices & Figures of Speech - High School
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Big Science
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
While the nature of adaptation requires compression and elision, the film dutifully tells the story that fans of the book will turn out to see brought to life on the big screen.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 12, 2022
The May 11 KidsPost article “How to be daring on Eat What You Want Day” contained an amazing elision.
From Washington Post • May 20, 2022
And in an Ozu-ian elision of what other directors might consider essential, the groom disappears from the remaining half-hour, going through with a scheduled departure for northern Japan.
From New York Times • Sep. 3, 2020
The elision of Shelby’s private life is a sleight of hand that obscures, above all, the complexity of life—it suggests a sheer unwillingness to contend with facts that don’t easily fit into a sentimental schema.
From The New Yorker • Nov. 19, 2019
This rather deliberate elision of Fermi’s role in neutron research was the prelude to a pitch for $2,250 “to increase the yield of neutron radiation tenfold or more.”
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
