Definition:
Omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses (opposite of polysyndeton). Adjective: asyndetic.
Etymology:
From the Greek, "unconnected"Examples:
- "Dogs, undistinguishable in mire. Horses, scarcely better--splashed to their very blinkers. Foot passengers, jostling one another's umbrellas, in a general infection of ill temper."
(Charles Dickens, Bleak House) - "Why, they've got ten volumes on suicide alone. Suicide by race, by color, by occupation, by sex, by seasons of the year, by time of day. Suicide, how committed: by poisons, by firearms, by drowning, by leaps. Suicide by poison, subdivided by types of poison, such as corrosive, irritant, systemic, gaseous, narcotic, alkaloid, protein, and so forth. Suicide by leaps, subdivided by leaps from high places, under the wheels of trains, under the wheels of trucks, under the feet of horses, from steamboats. But Mr. Norton, of all the cases on record, there's not one single case of suicide by leap from the rear end of a moving train."
(Edward G. Robinson as insurance agent Barton Keyes in Double Indemnity) - "I have found the warm caves in the woods,
filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,
closets, silks, innumerable goods"
(Anne Sexton, "Her Kind") - "In some ways, he was this town at its best--strong, hard-driving, working feverishly, pushing, building, driven
by ambitions so big they seemed Texas-boastful."
(Mike Royko, "A Tribute") - "Anyway, like I was saying, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That--that's about it."
(Bubba in Forrest Gump)
Pronunciation: ah-SIN-di-ton
Also Known As: brachylogia
