Standard Lemma guide

syntagma

noun · 6 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: sĭntăgʹmə
  • Received-Pronunciation: /sɪnˈtæɡmə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -æɡmə

1

noun

Meaning 1

A constituent segment within a text, such as a word or a phrase that forms a syntactic unit.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

Examples

  • The syntagma “the God of peace” (in Greek ὁ Θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης) occurs in all undisputed Pauline letters.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Narrower terms: phoneme, word, phrase, sentence

2

noun

Meaning 2

An arrangement of units that together bears a meaning.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences, semiotics

Examples

  • To combine a sequence of shots into a larger syntagma, there has to be a connection between the successive shots.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A Macedonian phalanx fighting formation consisting of 256 men with long spears (sarissae).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: Ancient Greece

Examples

  • The men forming the syntagma were arranged in a square of sixteen files of sixteen.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

An organized structural, functional unit of anatomical or chemical subunits.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated

Topics: biology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: tagma

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A treatise or compendium.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: media, publishing

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

a syntactic string of words that forms a part of some larger syntactic unit

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: syntagm

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: string of words, word string, linguistic string

Narrower terms: constituent, grammatical constituent

History

Etymology

From Late Latin syntagma, from Ancient Greek σύνταγμα (súntagma, “orderly arrangement”), from συντάσσω (suntássō, “arrange together”, “to order”).

Across languages

Translations

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Esperanto: sintagmo — syntactic arrangement
  • Finnish: syntagma — syntactic arrangement
  • French: syntagme — syntactic arrangement
  • Galician: sintagma — syntactic arrangement
  • German: Syntagma — syntactic arrangement
  • Polish: syntagma — syntactic arrangement
  • Portuguese: sintagma — syntactic arrangement
  • Romanian: sintagmă — syntactic arrangement
  • Russian: синта́гма (sintágma) — syntactic arrangement
  • Serbo-Croatian: синтагма (sintagma) — syntactic arrangement
  • Serbo-Croatian: sintagma — syntactic arrangement
  • Spanish: sintagma — syntactic arrangement
  • Swedish: syntagm — syntactic arrangement
  • Esperanto: sintagmo — semiotic arrangement
  • Finnish: syntagma — semiotic arrangement
  • French: syntagme — semiotic arrangement
  • Galician: sintagma — semiotic arrangement
  • German: Syntagma — semiotic arrangement
  • Polish: syntagma — semiotic arrangement
  • Portuguese: sintagma — semiotic arrangement
  • Romanian: sintagmă — semiotic arrangement
  • Russian: синта́гма (sintágma) — semiotic arrangement
  • Serbo-Croatian: синтагма (sintagma) — semiotic arrangement
  • Serbo-Croatian: sintagma — semiotic arrangement
  • Spanish: sintagma — semiotic arrangement
  • Swedish: syntagm — semiotic arrangement
  • Finnish: syntagma — Macedonian phalanx
  • Greek: σύνταγμα (sýntagma) — Macedonian phalanx
  • Spanish: falange Macedónica — Macedonian phalanx