Standard Lemma guide

synchronous

adj · 4 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Australian, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsɪŋkɹənəs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S IH1 NG K R AH0 N AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

At the same time, at the same frequency.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: simultaneous, in phase, in sync, in step, synchronised, nonasynchronous, metachronous

Antonyms: asynchronous, antisynchronous

2

adj

Meaning 2

Interacting with other elements in series; blocking; interacting with the same program or thread as other operations, thereby preventing those operations from resuming until the operation of interest is complete.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: blocking, modal

Antonyms: asynchronous

3

adjective

Meaning 3

occurring or existing at the same time or having the same period or phase- Jour.A.M.A.

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • recovery was synchronous with therapy
  • a synchronous set of clocks
  • the synchronous action of a bird's wings in flight
  • synchronous oscillations

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: synchronal, synchronic

Antonyms: asynchronous

4

adjective

Meaning 4

(digital communication) pertaining to a transmission technique that requires a common clock signal (a timing reference) between the communicating devices in order to coordinate their transmissions

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: asynchronous

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin synchronus, from Ancient Greek σύγχρονος (súnkhronos, “contemporaneous”), from σῠν- (sŭn-, “with, together”) + χρόνος (khrónos, “time”). By surface analysis, syn- + chron- + -ous = synchrony + -ous; however, all related words (e.g., synchronic, synchrony, synchronicity, diachronous, diachronic, diachrony, diachronicity) were coined later, either as back-formations from, or otherwise by analogy with the surface analysis of, synchronous.

Across languages

Translations

36 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Belarusian: сінхро́нны (sinxrónny) — at the same time
  • Bulgarian: синхронен (sinhronen) — at the same time
  • Bulgarian: едновременен (ednovremenen) — at the same time
  • Chinese Mandarin: 同時的 /同时的 (tóngshí de) — at the same time
  • Chinese Mandarin: 同步的 (tóngbù de) — at the same time
  • Czech: synchronní — at the same time
  • Danish: synkron — at the same time
  • Dutch: synchroon — at the same time
  • Finnish: synkroninen — at the same time
  • Finnish: samanaikainen — at the same time
  • French: synchrone — at the same time
  • German: synchron — at the same time
  • Greek: σύγχρονος (sýnchronos) — at the same time
  • Hungarian: szinkrón — at the same time
  • Hungarian: egyidejű — at the same time
  • Icelandic: samstilltur — at the same time
  • Indonesian: sinkron — at the same time
  • Italian: sincrono — at the same time
  • Kazakh: синхронды (sinxrondy) — at the same time
  • Kazakh: синхрондық (sinxrondyq) — at the same time
  • Kazakh: синхронизмді (sinxronizmdı) — at the same time
  • Kazakh: ілеспе (ılespe) — at the same time
  • Māori: tukutahi — at the same time
  • Māori: tautokorua — at the same time
  • Norwegian Bokmål: synkron — at the same time
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: synkron — at the same time
  • Persian: همگام (hamgâm) — at the same time
  • Persian: همزمان (hamzamān) — at the same time
  • Portuguese: síncrono — at the same time
  • Romanian: sincron — at the same time
  • Romanian: în același timp — at the same time
  • Russian: синхро́нный (sinxrónnyj) — at the same time
  • Spanish: síncrono — at the same time
  • Spanish: sincrónico — at the same time
  • Swedish: synkron — at the same time
  • Ukrainian: синхро́нний (synxrónnyj) — at the same time
Real reading context

synchronous in complete knowledge articles