synchronous

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin synchronus, from Ancient Greek σύγχρονος (súnkhronos, “contemporaneous”), from σῠν- (sŭn-, “with, together”) + χρόνος (khrónos, “time”). By surface analysis, syn- +‎ chron- +‎ -ous = synchrony +‎ -ous; however, all related words (e.g., synchronic, synchrony, synchronicity, diachronous, diachronic, diachrony, diachronicity) were coined later, either as back-formations from, or otherwise by analogy with the surface analysis of, synchronous.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪŋkɹənəs/

Adjective

synchronous (comparative more synchronous, superlative most synchronous)

1. At the same time, at the same frequency.

   Synonyms: simultaneous, in phase, in sync, in step, synchronised, nonasynchronous, metachronous

   Antonyms: asynchronous, antisynchronous

2. (computing, of communication) Single-threaded; blocking; occurring in the same thread as other computations, thereby preventing those computations from resuming until the communication is complete.

   Synonyms: blocking, modal, single-threaded

   Antonym: asynchronous

   Coordinate term: plesiochronous

   • 2014, Richard Blewett, Andrew Clymer, Pro Asynchronous Programming with .NET, page 25:

     Post is a “fire and forget” where the UI thread work is performed asynchronously; Send is synchronous in that the call blocks until the UI thread work has been performed.