n. pl. syn·i·ze·ses (-sēz) 1. Linguistics The union in pronunciation of two adjacent vowels into one syllable without forming a diphthong. 2. Biology The phase of meiosis in some species in which the chromatin contracts into a mass at one side of the nucleus. [Late Latin synizēsis, from Greek sunizēsis, from sunizein, to collapse : sun-, syn- + hizein, to settle down; see sed- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
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