syntax

American  

[sin-taks] / ˈsɪn tæks /

noun

1. Linguistics.  Rarely

   1. the study of the rules and patterns by which sentences and phrases are formed in a language.

   2. the rules or patterns so studied.

      Some people find English syntax hard to master.

   3. a presentation of these rules or patterns.

      His syntax of German is famous in the field.

   4. an instance of these rules or patterns.

      The syntax of that sentence is odd.

2. Computers.  the grammatical rules and structural patterns governing the ordered use of appropriate words and symbols for issuing commands, writing code, etc., in a particular software application or programming language.

3. Logic.

   1. the branch of modern logic that studies the various kinds of signs that occur in a system and the possible arrangements of those signs, without reference to their meaning.

   2. the outcome of such a study when directed upon a specified language.

4. a system or orderly arrangement.

---

syntax British  

/ ˈsɪntæks /

noun

1. the branch of linguistics that deals with the grammatical arrangement of words and morphemes in the sentences of a language or of languages in general

2. the totality of facts about the grammatical arrangement of words in a language

3. a systematic statement of the rules governing the grammatical arrangement of words and morphemes in a language

4. logic a systematic statement of the rules governing the properly formed formulas of a logical system

5. any orderly arrangement or system

---

syntax Cultural  

1. The sequence in which words are put together to form sentences. In English, the usual sequence is subject, verb, and object.

---

Discover More

Syntactic languages, such as English, use word order to indicate word relationships. Inflected languages (see inflection), such as Greek and Latin, use word endings and other inflections to indicate relationships.

Etymology

Origin of syntax

First recorded in 1565–75; short for earlier syntaxis

Example Sentences

Amid the fresh scholarship of recent years—the microanalysis of quill strokes, the algorithmic scrutiny of syntax—Mr. Swift’s contribution, and it’s a valuable one, is to tell the story of a building.

From The Wall Street Journal

Above all, Mr. Zipperstein returns us from the grievance ledger to the pages where Roth fought his real fights, his struggles with syntax and structure.

From The Wall Street Journal

The Academy noted the author's flowing syntax with long, winding sentences devoid of full stops that has become his signature.

From Barron's

The lack of precision, like the tangled syntax, seems deliberate.

From Salon

“Fox” has the bones of a potboiler but is supported by the sinew of the author’s elegant structure and syntax.

From Los Angeles Times