elision

noun

eli·​sion i-ˈli-zhən 

1

a

: the use of a speech form that lacks a final or initial sound which a variant speech form has (such as 's instead of is in there's)

b

: the omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable in a verse to achieve a uniform metrical pattern

2

: the act or an instance of omitting something : omission

Synonyms

• deletion
• omission

Example Sentences

unfortunately, when the book was condensed, some of the elisions rendered major plot developments incomprehensible

Recent Examples on the Web

This is not a trivial semantic elision. —Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 5 Oct. 2011

Still, the performers sell the mutual attraction and the tricky sense of knowing one is understood beyond one’s lies and elisions; Fichtner and Draper are in fine form, as is Callies. —Daniel D'addario, Variety, 17 Feb. 2023

On the one hand, it’s become an annoying trend in our conversations about pop art for moves that are willfully, straightforwardly bad to get immediately reclaimed as campy (to say nothing of our constant elision of the difference between camp and kitsch). —K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone, 25 June 2021

Other organizations blur the line between management and influencer marketing—a dangerous rhetorical elision when one looks out for the streamer’s wellbeing, and the other wants a cut of a fat deal. —Cecilia D'anastasio, Wired, 14 Sep. 2020

Juneteenth, an elision of June 19th, commemorates when news of the American emancipation of enslaved people reached the deepest parts of the former Confederacy in Galveston, Texas. —Coral Murphy, USA TODAY, 19 June 2020

By contrast, Brinkley’s approach flattens the movement to a march of saints who, inexplicably, must be safeguarded against critique or elision. —Scott W. Stern, The New Republic, 10 Jan. 2023

While Schweblin’s shorter stories often rely too heavily on elision, the longest, about an elderly woman with dementia who observes her mind’s deterioration, is deeply affecting. —The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2022

What likely occurred in India was that generations of admixture between Jews and non-Jews resulted in the elision of differences between the two groups, despite the persistence of a cultural distinction. —Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 10 June 2010

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Word History

Etymology

Late Latin elision-, elisio, from Latin elidere

First Known Use

circa 1586, in the meaning defined at sense 1a