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Definition of "metathesis" [me•tath•e•sis]

  • 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. (noun)
  • Chemistry Double decomposition. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "metathesis" in a sentence
  • "In the fall of 1972 I first heard the term "olefin metathesis" from"
  • "The olefin metathesis mechanism was one of my first projects at MSU and my group explored various aspects of this reaction throughout my career."
  • "Although ring opening olefin metathesis polymerization,"