synapsis

1. 1.

   the side by side pairing of homologous maternal and paternal chromosomes at the start of meiosis

   Broaderorganic process

   Part ofleptotene

Other forms of synapsis

plural

synapses

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about synapsis

What does synapsis mean?

synapsis means "the side by side pairing of homologous maternal and paternal chromosomes at the start of meiosis".

How many syllables are in synapsis?

synapsis has 3 syllables: sy-nap-sis. The stress falls on "sy".

Is synapsis a common word?

synapsis is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.