Meaning & use
synthesis
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountableformal
The joining of separate ideas, parts or influences into a single new whole.
Grammar: Often with of: a synthesis of ideas.
Patterns
- a synthesis of something
- synthesis of A and B
The book is a synthesis of art and science.
Her essay offers a clear synthesis of the research.
The style is a synthesis of folk and jazz.
nouncountable or uncountablechemistry
The making of a chemical compound by combining simpler substances.
Grammar: Used in chemistry: the synthesis of ammonia.
Patterns
- the synthesis of something
Chemists studied the synthesis of the new drug.
The synthesis of ammonia changed farming.
noununcountablebiology
The process in living things of building complex substances from simpler ones, such as proteins or sugars.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: protein synthesis.
Patterns
- protein synthesis
- synthesis of something
Plants carry out the synthesis of sugar using sunlight.
Protein synthesis takes place in the cell.
Word forms
| plural | syntheses |
|---|
Common combinations
- a synthesis of
- The theory is a synthesis of two older ideas.
- protein synthesis
- Protein synthesis happens inside the cell.
- chemical synthesis
- Chemical synthesis can create new materials.
- achieve a synthesis
- The author tries to achieve a synthesis of East and West.
- synthesis of information
- A good report needs a synthesis of information.
- in synthesis
- The two views work well in synthesis.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fusion
- Fusion stresses melting two things into one, with a feel of heat or blending.
- combination
- Combination is plainer and does not suggest that a new whole is created.
- blend
- Blend suggests a smooth mix where the parts are hard to tell apart.
- integration
- Integration is about bringing parts together into a working whole.
Opposites
Word family
- synthesize verb
- to combine to make a new whole
- synthetic adjective
- made by people, not natural
- synthesizer noun
- a machine that makes electronic sounds
- synthetically adverb
- in an artificial way
- photosynthesis noun
- how plants make food from light
Commonly confused: synthesis or analysis? synthesis or thesis?
synthesis vs analysis
Analysis breaks something into parts, while synthesis builds parts into a whole.
synthesis vs thesis
A thesis is a long piece of academic writing or an argument; a synthesis combines things.
Practice
A historian combines several theories into one new explanation. This is an example of...
Choose one answer.
Synthesis combines separate ideas into a new whole. Analysis breaks a thing apart, and a summary only shortens.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “synthesis”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.