Me·tath·e·sis n.; pl. Metatheses
1. Gram. Transposition, as of the letters or syllables of a word; as, pistris for pristis; meagre for meager.
2. Med. A mere change in place of a morbid substance, without removal from the body.
3. Chem. The act, process, or result of exchange, substitution, or replacement of atoms and radicals; thus, by metathesis an acid gives up all or part of its hydrogen, takes on an equivalent amount of a metal or base, and forms a salt.
◄ ►
metathesis
n 1: a linguistic process of transposition of sounds or syllables
within a word or words within a sentence
2: a chemical reaction between two compounds in which parts of
each are interchanged to form two new compounds
(AB+CD=AD+CB) [syn: double decomposition, double
decomposition reaction]
[also: metatheses (pl)]