metathesis
American Heritage Dictionary:
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me·tath·e·sis
(mĭ-tăth'ĭ-sĭs) 
n., pl., -ses (-sēz').
metathetically met'a·thet'i·cal·ly adv.
n., pl., -ses (-sēz').
- Linguistics. Transposition within a word of letters, sounds, or syllables, as in the change from Old English brid to modern English bird or in the confusion of modren for modern.
- Chemistry. Double decomposition.
[Late Latin, from Greek, from metatithenai, to transpose : meta-, meta- + tithenai, to place.]
metathetic met'a·thet'ic (mĕt'ə-thĕt'ĭk) or met'a·thet'i·cal adj.metathetically met'a·thet'i·cal·ly adv.
Fowler's Modern English Usage:
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metathesis
pronounced with the stress on the second syllable, is a term for the transposition of sounds or letters in a word, sometimes as a feature of a word's development (e.g hasp from Old English hæpse) and at other times as an erroneous process (e.g. anenome for anemone).
| metaphor and simile, metallurgy, metal, mettle | |
| meter, meticulous, metonymy |
Oxford Dictionary of Chemistry:
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metathesis
A type of reaction in which radicals are exchanged. In inorganic chemistry, it is also called double decomposition. A simple example is
KCL+AgNO3 → KNO3+AgCl.
Metathesis of alkenes is an important type of reaction in synthetic organic chemistry. It involves exchange of groups. For example RHC=CH2+RHC=CH2 → RHC=CHR+H2C=CH2.
Reactions of this type are catalysed by metal alkylides (containing an M=CR2 grouping) and the intermediate is a four-membered ring containing the metal ion. The catalysts most often used are the Schrock catalysts based on molybdenum and the Grubbs catalysts based on ruthenium. The American chemists Richard Schrock and Robert Grubbs shared the Nobel prize for chemistry in 2005 for work in this field.
Saunders Veterinary Dictionary:
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metathesis
1. artificial transfer of a morbid process.
2. a chemical reaction in which an element or radical in one compound exchanges places with another element or radical in another compound.
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'metathesis'
- Chemical Properties and Reactions - metathesis: reaction involving an exchange of radicals; double decomposition
- Phonetics - metathesis: transposition of letters, syllables, or sounds in a word
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Metathesis
Not to be confused with metastasis.
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Look up metathesis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
Metathesis (from the Greek μετάθεσις "transposition") may refer to:
- Metathesis (linguistics), in phonology, a sound change that alters the order of phonemes in a word
- Quantitative metathesis, a situation in which two vowel sounds follow directly one after the other and a transposition of vowel length takes place
- Metathesis reaction, in chemistry, a bimolecular process involving the exchange of bonds between the two reacting chemical species
- Olefin metathesis, an organic reaction which involves redistribution of olefinic (alkene) bonds
- Alkane metathesis, a chemical reaction in which alkanes are rearranged to give longer or shorter alkane products
- Alkyne metathesis, an organic reaction involving the redistribution of alkyne chemical bonds
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Copyrights:
American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Oxford Dictionary of Chemistry
A Dictionary of Chemistry. Sixth Edition. Copyright © Market House Books Ltd, 2008. All rights reserved.
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Saunders Veterinary Dictionary
Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.
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Random House Word Menu
© 2010 Write Brothers Inc. Word Menu is a registered trademark of the Estate of Stephen Glazier.
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