synthetic
of, pertaining to, proceeding by, or involving synthesis (opposed to analytic).
noting or pertaining to compounds formed through a chemical process by human agency, as opposed to those of natural origin: synthetic vitamins; synthetic fiber.
(of a language) characterized by a relatively widespread use of affixes, rather than separate words, to express syntactic relationships: Latin is a synthetic language, while English is analytic.: Compare analytic (def. 3), polysynthetic (def. 1).
Also syn·thet·i·cal. Logic. of or relating to a noncontradictory proposition in which the predicate is not included in, or entailed by, the subject.
not real or genuine; artificial; feigned: a synthetic chuckle at a poor joke.
Jewelry.
noting a gem mineral manufactured so as to be physically, chemically, and optically identical with the mineral as found in nature.
(not in technical use) noting a gem mineral manufactured and pigmented in imitation of a natural gemstone of that name.
something made by a synthetic, or chemical, process.
synthetics.
substances or products made by chemical synthesis, as plastics or artificial fibers.
the science or industry concerned with such products.
Origin of synthetic
1Other words for synthetic
Other words from synthetic
- syn·thet·i·cal·ly, adverb
- non·syn·thet·ic, adjective
- non·syn·thet·i·cal, adjective
- non·syn·thet·i·cal·ly, adverb
- un·syn·thet·ic, adjective
- un·syn·thet·i·cal·ly, adverb
Words Nearby synthetic
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use synthetic in a sentence
Another client is an Ohio-based manufacturer of cotton swabs that is replacing the cotton with a synthetic equivalent in order to make nasal testing swabs uncontaminated by the plant fiber’s DNA.
The team hopes their new cotton plants might eventually be grown widely and made into clothes, helping to displace the toxic dyes and synthetic materials used by the fashion industry.
Scientists Gene-Hack Cotton Plants to Make Them Every Color of the Rainbow | Jason Dorrier | August 11, 2020 | Singularity HubAll he needed was a long, two-dimensional chain—natural or synthetic—and the chain should fold itself automatically, similar to how it folds into the double helix inside our bodies.
How Fake Viruses Can Help Us Make the Best Possible Vaccines | Shelly Fan | July 7, 2020 | Singularity HubBecause the smell was completely synthetic, though, researchers could mess with it.
How to make a mouse smell a smell that doesn’t actually exist | Laura Sanders | June 18, 2020 | Science NewsThe fully synthetic nature of the Arkansas team’s technology could thus have a leg up on biologically-based approaches.
Artificial Kidneys Are a Step Closer With This New Tech | Vanessa Bates Ramirez | June 3, 2020 | Singularity Hub
One key ingredient of the stuff: Propylene glycol, a synthetic liquid that absorbs water.
Europeans Recall Fireball Whiskey Over a Sweetener Also Used in Antifreeze | Tim Mak | October 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe Illinois legislation does not include bioplastics like PHA, defining the banned microplastics to be of the synthetic type.
But the arguments over drug testing may cease to matter if the synthetic drug epidemic continues.
With more than 300 synthetic cannabinoids in use today, drug-testing companies are struggling to keep up with the new varieties.
A dangerous synthetic drug trend is fueling an epidemic among American youth.
Nearly all the translating words given in this section so far are synthetic.
Assimilative Memory | Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)Drapes of velvety synthetic, dyed the deep green that Martian colonists like, covered the walls.
Fee of the Frontier | Horace Brown FyfeIf you want to make a synthetic sapphire, you start with a seed sapphire, and the artificial process builds up on that.
Nine Men in Time | Noel Miller LoomisApproximately two-thirds of such chemical employees are found in the synthetic fiber field.
Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia | Dorothy M. TorpeyVirginia now has approximately 30% of the total employees in the United States engaged in synthetic fibers.
Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia | Dorothy M. Torpey
British Dictionary definitions for synthetic
/ (sɪnˈθɛtɪk) /
(of a substance or material) made artificially by chemical reaction
not genuine; insincere: synthetic compassion
denoting languages, such as Latin, whose morphology is characterized by synthesis: Compare polysynthetic, agglutinative (def. 2), analytic (def. 3)
philosophy
(of a proposition) having a truth-value that is not determined solely by virtue of the meanings of the words, as in all men are arrogant
contingent: Compare a posteriori, empirical
a synthetic substance or material
Origin of synthetic
1Derived forms of synthetic
- synthetically, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for synthetic
[ sĭn-thĕt′ĭk ]
Produced artificially, especially in a laboratory or other man-made environment. Nylon is a synthetic chemical compound.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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