synopsis

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin synopsis,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which is from Ancient Greek σύνοψις (súnopsis, “general view”),^[2][7][3] literally "a seeing all together", from σύν (sún, “together”) and ὄψις (ópsis, “sight, view”);^[2][7][3][8] the OED compares συνορᾶν (sunorân, “to see altogether”).^[2][4] The second element goes back to Proto-Indo-European *okʷ- (“to see”).^[3][5] Merriam-Webster analyses the Greek noun instead as formed on the future stem of the verb, "to be going to see together", with the suffix -sis.^[9] The Late Latin word is also the source of Italian sinossi and Spanish sinopsis.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A brief statement or table giving a general view of a subject: the OED's first record is in Thomas Coryate's Crudities (1611),^[2][4] but Merriam-Webster dates the sense to 1603,^[9] and Dictionary.com to 1605–15.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the word was sometimes Englished as synopsy.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a general view; all the parts brought under one view".^[11] Its main use came to be a short summary of the plot of a book, play or film, and, in the film and television industry, an outline of a proposed script.^[6][9] Biblical scholars used it for an edition of the Gospels, usually the first three, printed in parallel columns,^[6] and the adjective synoptic (1764) was applied to those three Gospels from 1841.^[2][3] The rarer senses "a general view, as of a landscape" (1844) and, in the Orthodox Church, a book of prayers for the laity (1850) date from the 19th century.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1603 – a brief general statement, a summary.^[9]
• 1611 – in Coryate's Crudities.^[2][4]
• 17th century – sometimes Englished as synopsy.^[3]
• 1764 – synoptic.^[2]
• 1841 – the synoptic Gospels.^[2][3]
• 1844 – a general view, as of a landscape.^[2]
• 1850 – an Orthodox book of prayers for the laity.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A brief outline or summary of a subject or text giving a general view of it, especially of the plot of a book, play or film: The back cover carries a short synopsis of the novel.^[12][9][6]
2. An outline of a proposed film or television script, or a summary of a completed film.^[9]
3. An edition of the Gospels arranged in parallel columns.^[6]
4. A conjugation of a verb in one person and number through its tenses.^[9]
5. (rare) A general view, as of a landscape.^[2][6]
6. In the Orthodox Church, a book of prayers for the use of the laity.^[2][6]

Word family

• synopsize

Related words

• synoptic
• synoptist
• optic
• autopsy

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins