n.
- Reconciliation or fusion of differing systems of belief, as in philosophy or religion, especially when success is partial or the result is heterogeneous.
- Linguistics. The merging of two or more originally different inflectional forms.
[Greek sunkrētismos, union, from sunkrētizein, to unite (in the manner of the Cretan cities) : sun-, syn- + Krēs, Krēt-, Cretan.]
syncretic syn·cret'ic (-krĕt'ĭk) or syn'cre·tis'tic (-krĭ-tĭs'tĭk) adj.syncretist syn'cre·tist n.
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.
