combinatorial
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or involving the combination of elements, as in phonetics or music.
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of or relating to the enumeration of the number of ways of doing some specific task or of arranging items in a specific configuration.
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Mathematics. of or relating to combination, or the modes, properties, etc., of combinations.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of combinatorial
First recorded in 1810–20; combinatory + -al 1
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.
In recent months, the AI companies have flaunted the capabilities of their models by trumpeting advances in combinatorial geometry and algebraic number theory, turning math into an unlikely form of advertising.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
For years, scientists have hoped to harness bacterial enzymes to create new drug variants through a process known as combinatorial biosynthesis.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
And they also showed that sperm whale codas are indeed combinatorial, similar to the compositionally shown by bonobos and chimps.
From Salon ● May 29, 2025
The minigames within Lorelei almost included Nim, an ancient combinatorial game that appears in “Last Year at Marienbad.”
From New York Times ● May 15, 2024
They indulge as well in reductio ad absurdum, the logical practice of taking any premise to an extreme, and in various sorts of combinatorial word play.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
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.
