zeugma means the act of using a word, particularly an adjective or verb, to apply to more than one noun when its sense is appropriate to only one. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
zeugma is pronounced /ˈzjuːɡ.mə/.
Why “zeugma” is a great word
ZEUGMA — [Noun] A figure of speech in which a single word, typically a verb or adjective, is applied to two or more nouns, though it is semantically appropriate to only one. From the Ancient Greek ζεῦγμα (zeûgma, "a yoking, bond"), from ζεύγνυμι (zeúgnumi, "to yoke, to join"). First recorded in English use 1515–25. Unlike syllepsis (where a word governs two others in different but valid senses) or ellipsis (which omits a word implied by context), zeugma yokes disparate ideas through a deliberate, often witty, grammatical mismatch. It is the elegant dissonance of "he stole my heart and my wallet," the melancholic gravity of "she opened the door and her heart," or the domestic collapse of "he lost his keys and his temper"—a single, overburdened word revealing the fragile ligaments of our logic in a brief, forced marriage of the concrete and the abstract.
noun
- The act of using a word, particularly an adjective or verb, to apply to more than one noun when its sense is appropriate to only one.
- Syllepsis.“The existence of zeugmas suggests the rule of transitivity. Zeugmas appear incorrect because they embody an allegedly univocal use of a term in a way which violated^([sic]) the rule of transitivity.”