Definition of: syncretism

(sing′krə·tiz′əm) noun
1. A tendency or effort to reconcile and unite various systems of philosophy or religious opinion on the basis of tenets common to all and against a common opponent.
2. Ling. The fusion of two or more inflectional forms which were originally different, as of two cases. [<F syncrétisme <NL syncretismus <Gk. sykrētismos a union of two parties against a third <synkrētizein combine]
—syn′cre·tist noun
—syn′cre·tis′tic or ·ti·cal, syn·cret·ic (sin·kret′ik) adjective