Zeugma
- “what is zeugma”
- “zeugma vs syllepsis”
- “zeugma examples”
- “she took her coat and her leave”
:: COMPARE ::
ZeugmavsSyllepsis
The short answer
The standard teaching is that zeugma covers the yoking generally while syllepsis names the case where the governing word applies in two different senses. That distinction is real in some traditions and reversed or absent in others — so treat any confident version, including this one, as one school's convention.
Side by side
| Aspect | Zeugma | Syllepsis |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | The yoking | The sense shift |
| Agreed | No | No |
| Used as synonyms | Frequently | Frequently |
| Greek sense | A yoking | A taking together |
Which one you meant
Readers who land here meaning Zeugma rather than Syllepsis are usually searching for phrases like “what is zeugma”, “zeugma vs syllepsis”, “zeugma examples”.
Where the confusion comes from
“Zeugma and syllepsis have distinct, agreed definitions.”
They do not, and the confusion is documented rather than accidental. Rhetorical handbooks disagree about which term covers the grammatically-correct case and which covers the semantic shift, and some treat them as synonyms outright. Any confident textbook distinction is one tradition's version presented as the only one.
Read either one in full