Dictionary
Find
in
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Translations

Click to move up the list of words
Chi-Rho
chi-square
chi-square distribution
Chianti
chiapanecas
Chiapas
chiaroscuro
chiasma
chiasmus
chiastolite
Chiba
Chibcha
Chibchan
Chibemba
Chibougamau
chibouk
chic
Click to move down the list of words
Print Preview
See pronunciation key
Search for "chiasmus" in all of MSN Encarta
E-mail this entry
Blog about this entry on MSN Spaces
Download the MSN Encarta Right-Click Dictionary

chiasmus

chi·as·mus [ kī ázməss ] (plural chi·as·mi [ kī áz m ])


noun 
Definition:
 
inverted word order in phrase: a rhetorical construction in which the order of the words in the second of two paired phrases is the reverse of the order in the first. An example is "gray was the morn, all things were gray."

[Mid-17th century. Via modern Latin< Greek khiasmos< khiazein (see chiasma)]
Advertisement

Also on Encarta
Englishtown: Learn English online
Our Partners
Also on MSN
Encarta Message Boards (© Rubberball/Jupiterimages)
MSN Shopping
Encarta RSS Feeds
© 2008 Microsoft