Diaeresis

Quick meaning: Diaeresis is a noun meaning An occurrence of separate vowel sounds in adjacent syllables without an intervening consonant; a hiatus.

Meaning

An occurrence of separate vowel sounds in adjacent syllables without an intervening consonant; a hiatus.

More Meanings

1. (figurative, rhetoric, rare) A division, a separation.
2. (prosody) A natural break in rhythm when a word ends at the end of a metrical foot in a line of verse.
3. (surgery, archaic) An act of separating body parts or tissues which are normally together.
4. A separation of one syllable (especially a vowel which is a diphthong, that is, beginning with one sound and ending with another) into two distinct syllables; distraction.
5. (orthography) The diacritical mark consisting of two dots (¨) placed over a letter (especially the second of two consecutive vowels) to indicate that it is sounded separately, usually as a distinct syllable.

Example Sentences

The Diæresis is used to divide a diphthong into two syllables; as, Creätor.

There are four^([sic]) manners of performing the Diæreſis: viz. by Cutting, Pricking, Tearing, Dravving, and Burning.

Synaeresis, the opposite of Diaëresis, is the throwing of two syllables into one; as, Seest for seëst. Looked for look-ed.

Diæreſis is vvhen tvvo points ouer a vovvell diuide it from another vovvel, as bouë, queuë, read bou-e, queu-e, not bo-ue, que-ue.

Word Forms

• diaereses

Synonyms for diaeresis

Depending on context, synonyms include trema, umlaut, dieresis.

Antonyms for diaeresis

Common opposites include synaeresis.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include umlaut, dieresis, bucolic, diacritical, diacritic, circumflex.

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