Interlocked word order, in the form A-B-A-B; a favourite with Latin poets.

An example of this would be ratio rationem timor timorem vicit, "reason overcame his reason, and fear his fear", in Pliny's letter describing his uncle's reaction to the rain of pumice after the eruption of Vesuvius.

Synchyses often display change and difference. They are often employed to demonstrate such change within the event in which they are situated; on occasion, there are synchyses within a poem which were not intended but happened to be written in such a way.

A synchysis may be opposed to chiasmus, which is in the form A-B-B-A.

A line of Latin verse in the form adjective A - adjective B - verb - noun A - noun B, with the verb in the centre (or a corresponding chiastic line, again with the verb in the centre), is known as a golden line. An example of this is aurea purpuream subnectit fibula vestem, "a golden clasp bound her purple cloak" (Vergil, Aeneid 4.139): the line translates word-by-word as "golden purple bound clasp cloak" (endings on the Latin words indicate their syntactical relationship, where in English word order would do the same job).