as in offence
a socially improper or unsuitable act or remark
the solecism of asking one's hosts how much something in their house cost them
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Recent Examples of solecism
The result is global English but one without the imprecision and solecism implied by that label.
—
Colin Marshall, The New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2022
And a single word couldn’t be a dead giveaway either, no matter how much people would like to portray the use of pled rather than pleaded as an obvious Trumpian solecism, especially when Dowd himself has been documented using pled at least once.
—Ben Zimmer, The Atlantic, 8 Dec. 2017
But the songwriter Tony Hatch has said he was inspired by Times Square—a solecism forgivable from a Brit.
—Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 13 Feb. 2017
Solecism slipped into solipsism into full-blown narcissistic projection.
—Dana Goodyear, The New Yorker, 26 Jan. 2017
Colin Marshall, The New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2022
And a single word couldn’t be a dead giveaway either, no matter how much people would like to portray the use of pled rather than pleaded as an obvious Trumpian solecism, especially when Dowd himself has been documented using pled at least once.
—Ben Zimmer, The Atlantic, 8 Dec. 2017
But the songwriter Tony Hatch has said he was inspired by Times Square—a solecism forgivable from a Brit.
—Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 13 Feb. 2017
Solecism slipped into solipsism into full-blown narcissistic projection.
—Dana Goodyear, The New Yorker, 26 Jan. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for solecism
Noun
-
The show’s main blunder is that instead of unpacking the various angles of the mob bosses’ corruption, random side stories start popping up.—
Aramide Tinubu,
Variety,
15 May 2025
-
But the internal investigation promised by department leaders — a probe of what accounted for the delays and blunders — seemed to go nowhere.—
Christopher Goffard,
Los Angeles Times,
15 May 2025
Noun
-
Treating it like a cause-and-effect explanation mistakes the scoreboard for the game.—
Alexander William Salter,
National Review,
9 May 2025
-
Now in the context of the very obvious dropping of moral guardrails around international relations, other countries will be less bound by a sense of world order, emboldened by an arms race, and will start to take risks and make mistakes.—
Mike O'Sullivan,
Forbes.com,
9 May 2025
Noun
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And any Catholic who has made a confession to a priest knows that what is said in confession stays in confession, unlike a problematic yet pivotal indiscretion that happens in the movie.—
Lisa Gutierrez,
Kansas City Star,
24 Apr. 2025
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Swiatek is also someone who comes across as eager to please, and her discomfort at the indiscretion, and the resulting perceptions of her, has been obvious.—
Charlie Eccleshare,
The Athletic,
12 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
Garcia, who denies gang membership, had an immigration court order protecting him from deportation, which the administration acknowledged was an administrative error.—
Bart Jansen,
USA Today,
15 May 2025
-
Betts grounded into a fielder’s choice and reached via an error on a should-have-been 6-3 putout.—
Benjamin Royer,
Los Angeles Times,
14 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Solecism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/solecism. Accessed 25 May. 2025.
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