analyse

American  

[an-l-ahyz] / ˈæn lˌaɪz /

verb (used with object)

Chiefly British.

analysed, analysing

1. a variant of analyze.

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analyse British  

/ ˈænəˌlaɪz /

verb

1. to examine in detail in order to discover meaning, essential features, etc

2. to break down into components or essential features

   to analyse a financial structure

3. to make a mathematical, chemical, grammatical, etc, analysis of

4. another word for psychoanalyse

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Other Word Forms

• analysable
  adjective
• analysation
  noun
• analyser
  noun

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

Platforms also analyse audience demographic data to create show concepts.

From BBC • May 1, 2026

AI is also used to analyse social media and to experiment with "digital twins" and "synthetic people".

From BBC • Apr. 30, 2026

Following the chatbots' advice, he paid $3,000 to have Rosie's genome sequenced, and used the same online tools to analyse her DNA data.

From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026

AI software was used to analyse commercially available drone footage of crowds at the causeway, which is near Bushmills, County Antrim.

From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026

The descriptive sort of linguist tends to observe change in the language, note it, analyse it and manage not to wake up screaming every night.

From "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Author