synesis
/ˈsɪnəsɪs/
noun
- A grammatical construction in which the form of a word agrees with the meaning of another word rather than its grammatical form, especially when a singular noun that refers to a group is followed by a plural verb or pronoun.
- Writers often use synesis when they say 'The committee have decided' even though 'committee' is grammatically singular.
- Synesis allows a sentence like 'The crowd were cheering loudly' to sound natural, matching the meaning of many individuals.
- In the sentence 'The team are celebrating their victory,' the plural verb 'are' is an example of synesis because 'team' is singular but refers to multiple people.