Metathesis

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Metathesis \Me*tath"e*sis\, n.; pl. {Metatheses}. [L., fr. Gr.
     meta`qesis, fr. metatiqe`nai to place differently, to
     transpose; meta` beyond, over + tiqe`nai to place, set. See
     {Thesis}.]
     1. (Gram.) Transposition, as of the letters or syllables of a
        word; as, pistris for pristis; meagre for meager.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Med.) A mere change in place of a morbid substance,
        without removal from the body.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Chem.) The act, process, or result of exchange,
        substitution, or replacement of atoms and radicals; thus,
        by metathesis an acid gives up all or part of its
        hydrogen, takes on an equivalent amount of a metal or
        base, and forms a salt.
        [1913 Webster] Metathetic

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  metathesis
       n 1: a linguistic process of transposition of sounds or syllables
            within a word or words within a sentence
       2: a chemical reaction between two compounds in which parts of
          each are interchanged to form two new compounds
          (AB+CD=AD+CB) [syn: {double decomposition}, {double
          decomposition reaction}]
       [also: {metatheses} (pl)]