synopsis

synopsis

See also: Synopsis

English

WOTD – 14 August 2007

Etymology

From Late Latin synopsis, itself from Ancient Greek σύνοψις (súnopsis), from σύν (sún, “with or whole”) + ὄψις (ópsis, “view”) meaning whole view.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɪˈnɒpsɪs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /sɪˈnɑpsɪs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

synopsis (plural synopses)

1. (authorship) A brief summary of the major points of a written work, either as prose or as a table; an abridgment or condensation of a work.
2. A reference work containing brief articles that taken together give an overview of an entire field.
3. (Orthodoxy) A prayer book for use by the laity of the church.

Synonyms

• (brief summary): abridgment, abstract, conspectus, outline, overview, summary

Related terms

• synoptic
• synoptical
• synoptically
• synoptist

Translations

brief summary

Afrikaans: sinopsis Albanian: konspekt (sq) Arabic: مُلَخَّص‎ m (mulaḵḵaṣ) Armenian: please add this translation if you can Belarusian: агля́д m (ahljád), рэзюмэ́ n (rezjumé) Bulgarian: обзо́р (bg) m (obzór), резюме́ (bg) n (rezjumé) Catalan: sinopsi f Chinese: Mandarin: 概要 (zh) (gàiyào), 提要 (zh) (tíyào), 摘要 (zh) (zhāiyào) Czech: přehled (cs) m, synopse (cs) f Danish: synopse (da) c, synopsis (da) c Dutch: samenvatting (nl) f, synopsis (nl) f Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Estonian: kokkuvõte Finnish: tiivistelmä (fi), yhteenveto (fi), synopsis (fi) French: abrégé (fr) m, précis (fr) m, résumé (fr) m Galician: resumo m, sinopse f Georgian: მიმოხილვა (mimoxilva) German: Synopse (de) f, Übersicht (de) f, Zusammenfassung (de) f Greek: σύνοψη (el) f (sýnopsi), περίληψη (el) f (perílipsi) Ancient: σύνοψις f (súnopsis) Hebrew: תַקצִיר‎ m (taktsír) Hungarian: összefoglalás (hu), összegzés (hu), áttekintés (hu), összefoglaló (hu) Irish: achoimre (ga) f, achoimriú m Italian: sinossi (it) f Japanese: 大意 (ja) (たいい, taii), 梗概 (ja) (こうがい, kōgai), 概要 (ja) (がいよう, gaiyō), あらすじ (ja) (arasuji) Korean: 대위(大意) (ko) (daewi), 경개(梗槪) (ko) (gyeonggae), 개요(槪要) (gaeyo) Latvian: please add this translation if you can Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can Maori: whakarāpopoto Polish: streszczenie (pl) m Portuguese: resumo (pt) m Romanian: sinopsis (ro) n Russian: кра́ткое описа́ние n (krátkoje opisánije), кра́ткий обзо́р m (krátkij obzór), сино́псис (ru) m (sinópsis), конспе́кт (ru) m (konspékt), обозре́ние (ru) n (obozrénije), резюме́ (ru) n (rezjumɛ́) Scottish Gaelic: giorrachadh (gd) m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: сино̀псис m, саже́так m Roman: sinòpsis (sh) m, sažétak (sh) m Slovak: prehľad m, synopsa f Spanish: resumen (es) m, sumario (es) m, sinopsis (es) f Swedish: sammanfattning (sv) c, synopsis (sv) c, sammandrag (sv) n Thai: please add this translation if you can Turkish: özet (tr) Ukrainian: о́гляд (uk) m (óhljad), резюме́ n (rezjumé), сино́псис m (synópsys) Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can Welsh: crynodeb (cy)

See also

• bird's-eye view

Further reading

• synopsis in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• synopsis in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

---

Finnish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin synopsis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsynopsis/, [ˈs̠yno̞ps̠is̠]
• Rhymes: -ynopsis
• Syllabification^(key): sy‧nop‧sis

Noun

synopsis

1. synopsis

Declension

Inflection of synopsis (Kotus type 39/vastaus, no gradation)
nominative		synopsis	synopsikset
genitive		synopsiksen	synopsisten synopsiksien
partitive		synopsista	synopsiksia
illative		synopsikseen	synopsiksiin
		singular	plural
nominative		synopsis	synopsikset
accusative	nom.	synopsis	synopsikset
	gen.	synopsiksen
genitive		synopsiksen	synopsisten synopsiksien
partitive		synopsista	synopsiksia
inessive		synopsiksessa	synopsiksissa
elative		synopsiksesta	synopsiksista
illative		synopsikseen	synopsiksiin
adessive		synopsiksella	synopsiksilla
ablative		synopsikselta	synopsiksilta
allative		synopsikselle	synopsiksille
essive		synopsiksena	synopsiksina
translative		synopsikseksi	synopsiksiksi
instructive		—	synopsiksin
abessive		synopsiksetta	synopsiksitta
comitative		—	synopsiksineen

Possessive forms of synopsis (type vastaus)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	synopsikseni	synopsiksemme
2nd person	synopsiksesi	synopsiksenne
3rd person	synopsiksensa

Synonyms

• tiivistelmä

---

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si.nɔp.sis/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

synopsis m or f (plural synopsis)

1. a general overview or synoptic table of a topic
2. (media) Plot summary of a movie

Further reading

• “synopsis”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

---

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σῠ́νοψῐς (súnopsis, “shared view; estimate”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /syˈnop.sis/, [s̠ʏˈnɔps̠ɪs̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /siˈnop.sis/, [siˈnɔpsis]

Noun

synopsis f (genitive synopsis or synopseōs or synopsios); third declension

1. list
2. synopsis, overview

Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, i-stem, i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	synopsis	synopsēs synopseis
Genitive	synopsis synopseōs synopsios	synopsium
Dative	synopsī	synopsibus
Accusative	synopsim synopsin synopsem1	synopsēs synopsīs
Ablative	synopsī synopse1	synopsibus
Vocative	synopsis synopsi	synopsēs synopseis

¹Found sometimes in Medieval and New Latin.

Descendants

• Catalan: sinopsi
• English: synopsis
• French: synopsis
• Italian: sinossi
• Spanish: sinopsis
• Portuguese: sinopse

References

• “synopsis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• synopsis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette