Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Solecism"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Solecism \Sol"e*cism\, n.[F. sol['e]cisme, L. soloecismus, Gr.
soloikismo`s, fr. soloiki`zein to speak or write incorrectly,
fr. so`loikos speaking incorrectly, from the corruption of
the Attic dialect among the Athenian colonists of So`loi in
Cilicia.]
1. An impropriety or incongruity of language in the
combination of words or parts of a sentence; esp.,
deviation from the idiom of a language or from the rules
of syntax.

A barbarism may be in one word; a solecism must be
of more. --Johnson.

2. Any inconsistency, unfitness, absurdity, or impropriety,
as in deeds or manners.

C[ae]sar, by dismissing his guards and retaining his
power, committed a dangerous solecism in politics.
--C.
Middleton.

The idea of having committed the slightest solecism
in politeness was agony to him. --Sir W.
Scott.

Syn: Barbarism; impropriety; absurdity.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

solecism
n : a socially awkward or tactless act [syn: {faux pas}, {gaffe},
{slip}, {gaucherie}]

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