synthesize
Americanverb (used with object)
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synthesizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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synthesized,
past participle, past
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synthesizing
present participle
-
to form (a material or abstract entity) by combining parts or elements (opposed to analyze).
to synthesize a statement.
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Chemistry. to combine (constituent elements) into a single or unified entity.
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to treat synthetically.
verb (used without object)
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synthesizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
synthesized,
past participle, past
-
synthesizing
present participle
verb
-
to combine or cause to combine into a whole
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(tr) to produce by synthesis
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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synthesizationnoun
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resynthesizeverb (used with object)
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nonsynthesizedadjective
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unsynthesizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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synthesizesimple
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synthesizessimple
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have synthesizedperfect
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has synthesizedperfect
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am synthesizingprogressive
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are synthesizingprogressive
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is synthesizingprogressive
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have been synthesizingperfect progressive
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has been synthesizingperfect progressive
Past
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synthesizedsimple
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had synthesizedperfect
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was synthesizingprogressive
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were synthesizingprogressive
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had been synthesizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of synthesize
First recorded in 1820–30; synthes(is) + -ize
Explanation
When you synthesize, you combine two or more things to create something more complex. It's becoming more common for doctors these days to synthesize Eastern and Western approaches to medicine. While synthesize was first used in 1830, scientists and inventors were doing what it means long before that, mixing stuff together to create new materials and products. Medical researchers chemically synthesize chemicals every day in the lab, hoping to create the next wonder drug. When you write a research paper on a given topic, you must find and synthesize information related to that topic, so you can understand what it means and structure an argument in support of your thesis.
Vocabulary lists containing synthesize
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Argumentative Writing
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
If we rely on AI to narrate our experience—interpret our numbers, synthesize our sensations, assign meaning to our setbacks—we may weaken our own capacity to make sense of it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
Generative AI can synthesize and extrapolate in valuable ways, but it also can produce wrong answers or take on tasks that educators would see as inappropriate or counterproductive — such as writing papers for students.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
This produced solid, recyclable photocatalysts that could continuously synthesize H2O2 under natural sunlight while maintaining stable performance.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026
Clinicians and patients can use AI to collect and synthesize every bit of scientific data on the planet to help make a diagnosis or a treatment plan.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 27, 2026
“Yes, but if we can synthesize anything,” he offered, “why do we still need food synthesis engineers?”
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
Vargas Llosa intersperses the story with nimbly delivered informational chapters explaining the history and influences of the Peruvian vals, or waltz, which synthesizes European and indigenous musical styles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
The platform’s AI then synthesizes this information and generates a robust appeal letter that incorporates data from peer-reviewed scientific evidence, legal precedents where insurers have lost in court and relevant policy.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2025
Von Horn synthesizes the past and present not only in subject matter, but in the film’s visual and sonic style, creating an uncanny kind of then and now.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 6, 2024
WeCount synthesizes the data and creates imputations for the clinics that don't send their data.
From Salon ● May 15, 2024
Parks Canada is also taking advantage of another technological development called stereophotogrammetry, which produces pictures in pairs and then synthesizes hundreds of these pairings to produce extraordinarily clear images of whatever object is being studied.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
Those viruses are much larger and more complex than the ones synthesized in the experiment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
The researchers used their model to generate genomes based on the template virus and then synthesized the DNA and put the AI-generated viruses into bacterial cells.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Even so, researchers have still not successfully synthesized it in a laboratory.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026
The other products under discussion on Friday are epitalon and semax, which were both discovered and synthesized in Russia.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
This conception of a compact and electrically efficient accelerator synthesized several established principles into a novel whole.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
It’s well to remember that in the early days of synthesizing instruments, violins with perfect vibrato sounded especially fake, until tiny errors generated by chance were added to the sine waves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2026
In a new study published in Nature Electronics, a Harvard led research team unveiled a silicon chip capable of synthesizing 64 different DNA sequences at the same time.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
But Socolow came off as masterful at synthesizing energy challenges and environmental concerns, and Pacala brought deep knowledge of how carbon moves between Earth’s atmosphere, land and oceans.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026
Though far from perfect, AI systems already outperform human customer-service agents on many routine tasks, particularly in gathering, synthesizing and consistently delivering information.
From MarketWatch ● May 11, 2026
He looks down at the scrawling he’s made on the paper, synthesizing everything he’s written, as if expecting new information to leap out at him.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
