Pl. -ses. [late L., a. Gr. συνίζησις, n. of action f. συνιζάνειν το sink down, collapse, f. σύν SYN- + ἰζάνειν to seat, sit, settle down, f. ἴζειν to seat, sit.]
1. Gram. and Pros. Fusion of two syllables into one by the coalescence of two adjacent vowels (or of a vowel and a diphthong) without the formation of a recognized diphthong.
1846. Keightley, Notes Virg., Bucol., vii. 54. If this be the true reading, sua is an ablative case contracted by the figure synizesis.
1861. Paley, Æschylus, Pers. (ed. 2), 81, note. Κυάνεον…. Compare inf. … πορφυρεᾳ. In both places Hermann retains the uncontracted form, in which there is synizesis, against κυανοῦν and πορφυρᾷ of later editors.
2. Path. Closure of the pupil of the eye.
1820. Good, Nosology, 309.
