- a variation of analyze.
analyse
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to examine in detail in order to discover meaning, essential features, etc
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to break down into components or essential features
to analyse a financial structure
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to make a mathematical, chemical, grammatical, etc, analysis of
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another word for psychoanalyse
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of analyse
C17: back formation from analysis
Explanation
To analyse (analyze is U.S. English) something is to consider it in detail so you can figure out its workings or meaning. Analyse comes from Greek roots meaning "loosen." If you analyse something, it's as if you're untying it and letting the different parts separate so that you can study them. If you've got some mystery substance, you can analyse it by performing chemical reactions to break it into its parts. If you analyse a poem, you look at it word-by-word and even sound-by-sound. But remember that analyse is a British spelling, with analyze as the American version.
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:
"We have a good chemistry. We don't over analyse it."
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Today, McCormick is busy chasing after athletes to take blood lactate levels in between their efforts, and she will continue to process and analyse them long after the session has ended.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
With a flash of light, 2,000 photographs are taken of my body, in the hope of capturing every mark, freckle and mole to analyse for different skin cancers.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
But the potential for the glasses to record, analyse and store information about people without their knowledge has raised some serious privacy concerns.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Children can feel, but they cannot analyse their feelings; and if the analysis is partially effected in thought, they know not how to express the result of the process in words.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
The researchers analysed their ageing organoids with three different kinds of recently developed genetic "clocks" that can roughly determine the biological age of cells.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
The Fantasy Premier League season begins on Friday 21 August so, to help managers as you tinker with your teams before the deadline, we've gone through all 20 teams and analysed some of their assets.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
BBC Verify has also analysed satellite imagery suggesting the oil spill originated from an attack on a vessel in Omani waters on 3 August.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
"This Nvidia employee was identified as a person involved in the case after investigators analysed the relevant evidence following the previous round of searches targeting Super Micro," the source told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
“Detecting! You have analysed, then. And what did you detect, if not gratitude?”
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
After analysing the debris from the crash, Bulgaria's defence ministry however said that "currently, nothing suggests that this was a deliberate incident".
From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026
According to the Manila-based Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, which tracks adoption by analysing satellite imagery of rooftops, only half a percent of the country's available roof space is so far equipped for solar.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
The scientific divers who found the sample were mapping and analysing seaweeds to check on the health of Cornish maerl beds, a project organised by Natural England.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
For cultural commentator Coco, who goes by her first name and has amassed more than 100,000 followers on TikTok analysing Love Island, this reflects an important distinction.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
"Science has succeeded in so far analysing man that we know already that choice and what is called freedom of will is nothing else than——" Stay, gentlemen, I meant to begin with that myself.
From White Nights and Other Stories The Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Volume X by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
