Standard Lemma guide

chiastic

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • rhymes with -æstɪk

1

adj

Meaning 1

Pertaining to chiasmus.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1981 [Gerstenberg/Research Press], John W. Welch, Chiasmus In Ancient Greek and Latin Literatures, John W. Welch (editor), Chiasmus in Antiquity, 2020, Wipf and Stock, page 261, In the Aeneid, Vergil uses chiasmus in order to make his poetry smoother and more picturesque. Many lines could be quoted in which a chiastic order of words was necessary to maintain the dactylic hexameter.
  • 2009 [Ashgate Publishing], William E. Engel, Chiastic Designs in English Literature from Sidney to Shakespeare, 2016, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), page 22, Looking at David in this way has more to do with mnemotechnics than chiasmus, and yet the process by which earlier themes attach themselves to David and then are rendered differently by the poets does bespeak a movement that bears an affinity with the chiastic pattern of presenting something in a set order only to play it back differently so as to imbue it with different implications.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Pertaining to the position of two things relative to one another.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

3 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • German: chiastisch — pertaining to chiasmus
  • Italian: chiastico — pertaining to chiasmus
  • Polish: chiastyczny — pertaining to chiasmus