Zeugma is a rhetorical figure in which a single word — typically a verb or adjective — is deployed to govern two or more other words, each in a different sense, creating a deliberate semantic asymmetry. The word anchors multiple completions at once: one literal, one figurative, or two literal senses that clash. The mechanism of persistence is rhetorical education and textual reproduction — zeugma survives through teaching in grammar manuals, citation in literature, and the reader's recognition of the semantic split it produces. [formal: zeugma | substrate: mind | horizon: a moment | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
zeugma
Zeugma is a rhetorical figure in which a single word — typically a verb or adjective — is deployed to govern two or more other words, each in a different sense, creating a deliberate semantic asymmetry. The word anchors multiple completion…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made rhetorical device — a figure of speech in which a single word is applied to two or more others in different senses. It is a linguistic construct created by human rhetoric and preserved through literary tradition, teaching, and language.
Names and aliases
- zeugmaen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmr784qq1000ks126wltnuaxhDEPENDS_ON →
Zeugma is a rhetorical device where one word governs multiple others in different senses. It operates entirely through language — without language there is no zeugma. The dependency is constitutive, not merely facilitative.
- cmrtfjde400049zhnv4xb5z4fINSTANCE_OF →
Zeugma IS a specific kind of figure of speech: a word applies to two or more others in different senses (e.g. 'She lost her coat and her temper'). A competent speaker would call zeugma a figure of speech. Direction specific to general. Law 9 satisfied.
- cmrmf7wqp001sd1nlgdko4rbiSERVES →
Zeugma (a word applied to two others in different senses, e.g. 'she broke his car and his heart') is a rhetorical figure maintained for the sake of rhetorical effect — creating semantic tension through single-word linkage. SERVES is correct: servant (zeugma) → master (rhetoric). Purpose-by-design shown.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 18, 2026, 12:56 AM UTC
- Content hash
- ae04bbd235a5e3cd3cd2e77eaefd8cbc9a03fc6fa316e580753160fe3b596f16