Not of natural origin; prepared or made artificially; "man-made fibers"; "synthetic leather" [syn: man-made, semisynthetic, synthetic]
adjective
Involving or of the nature of synthesis (combining separate elements to form a coherent whole) as opposed to analysis; "limnology is essentially a synthetic science composed of elements...that extend well beyond the limits of biology"- P.S.Welch [syn: synthetic, synthetical] [ant: analytic, analytical]
adjective
Systematic combining of root and modifying elements into single words [ant: analytic, uninflected]
adjective
Of a proposition whose truth value is determined by observation or facts; "`all men are arrogant' is a synthetic proposition" [syn: synthetic, synthetical] [ant: analytic, analytical]
adjective
Artificial as if portrayed in a film; "a novel with flat celluloid characters" [syn: celluloid, synthetic]
adjective
Not genuine or natural; "counterfeit rhetoric that flourishes when passions are synthetic"- George Will
noun
A compound made artificially by chemical reactions [syn: synthetic, synthetic substance]
Synthetic \Syn*thet"ic\, Synthetical \Syn*thet"ic*al\, a. [Gr.
?: cf. F. synth['e]tique.]
1. Of or pertaining to synthesis; consisting in synthesis or
composition; as, the synthetic method of reasoning, as
opposed to analytical.
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Philosophers hasten too much from the analytic to
the synthetic method; that is, they draw general
conclusions from too small a number of particular
observations and experiments. --Bolingbroke.
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2. (Chem.) Artificial. Cf. Synthesis, 2.
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3. (Zool.) Comprising within itself structural or other
characters which are usually found only in two or more
diverse groups; -- said of species, genera, and higher
groups. See the Note under Comprehensive, 3.
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Synthetic language, or Synthetical language, an
inflectional language, or one characterized by grammatical
endings; -- opposed to analytic language. --R. Morris.
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