analyze
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to separate (a material or abstract entity) into constituent parts or elements; determine the elements or essential features of (opposed to synthesize).
to analyze an argument.
- Synonyms:
- break down.
- Antonyms:
- synthesize
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to examine critically, so as to bring out the essential elements or give the essence of.
to analyze a poem.
- Synonyms:
- explicate
-
to examine carefully and in detail so as to identify causes, key factors, possible results, etc.
-
to subject to mathematical, chemical, grammatical, etc., analysis.
-
to psychoanalyze.
a patient who has been analyzed by two therapists.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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analyzabilitynoun
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analyzationnoun
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overanalyzeverb
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misanalyzeverb (used with object)
-
reanalyzeverb (used with object)
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analyzableadjective
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nonanalyzableadjective
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nonanalyzedadjective
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reanalyzableadjective
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unanalyzableadjective
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unanalyzedadjective
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unanalyzingadjective
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well-analyzedadjective
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unanalyzablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
analyzesimple
-
analyzessimple
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have analyzedperfect
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has analyzedperfect
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am analyzingprogressive
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are analyzingprogressive
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is analyzingprogressive
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have been analyzingperfect progressive
-
has been analyzingperfect progressive
Past
-
analyzedsimple
-
had analyzedperfect
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was analyzingprogressive
-
were analyzingprogressive
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had been analyzingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of analyze
First recorded in 1595–1605; back formation from analysis (or from its Latin or Greek sources), with -ys- taken as -ize
Explanation
Analyze means to study or examine something carefully in a methodical way. If you analyze your math tests from earlier in the year, you'll be able to figure out what you most need to study for the final exam. This verb analyze comes from the noun analysis. The noun analysis was in turn borrowed from Greek, from analyein, or "to dissolve." If you go into analysis, it means that you will be examined and helped by a mental health professional — who will analyze your particular problems and help you find solutions.
Vocabulary lists containing analyze
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 1
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The Language of Standardized Tests, List 1
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Tier 2 Words for the SBAC ELA Items
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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:
Converts say spreadsheets turn their desires into packaged datasets that they can analyze for patterns—anything from “I typically catch feelings after the fourth date” to “my best dates tend to work in engineering.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Immediately, I thought of how many of my peers complained that her assignments were too difficult, and her film choices were too unconventional to analyze easily, even for college-level writers.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026
Nicholas Vargas, an associate professor at UC Berkeley and one of the study’s co-authors, said that researchers hadn’t sought out to analyze the mental health impact but that it came up repeatedly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
"Most likely, they're relying on boilerplate templates which can be detected by large language models that analyze patterns in texts," Professor Barnett said.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
Back in his room aboard the Beagle, he began to systematically analyze the corpses of the birds that he had collected.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Data from Placer.ai, a company that analyzes consumer foot traffic at restaurants and retailers, suggested there have been early signs of disruption.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026
The chain’s U.S. sales grew 4.2% for the week ended July 11, representing the slowest weekly increase since April, according to data firm Consumer Edge, which analyzes credit and debit transaction activity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Baker analyzes how the rise of banking and insurance in 15th and 16th century Italy transformed beliefs about time, risk, and luck.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Dr. John Veitch, an academic at the University of Glasgow who analyzes black hole signals, said:
From Science Daily ● Jul. 2, 2026
If he analyzes an hour of a husband and wife talking, he can predict with 95 percent accuracy whether that couple will still be married fifteen years later.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
To investigate that possibility, researchers analyzed the largest prospectively enrolled SuperAging cohorts studied with the latest measures of genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026
Hoell and his colleagues analyzed nearly four decades of El Niño and La Niña oscillations and wildfire burn areas to understand how often the fire season mirrors the climate cycle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Almost all the sitting heads of state who appear on the circulating coins that I analyzed are hereditary monarchs.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
Most of the studies the authors analyzed are observational and can’t prove cause and effect.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
I thought the doctor might have pumped somebody's stomach and then analyzed what he found in his hotel laboratory.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
The team used spectroscopy, a method that reveals a star's chemical composition by analyzing its light, to search TOI-5882 for signs of lithium.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
They reached their conclusions after analyzing trading histories of more than 5,000 individual prediction market contracts on Polymarket and Kalshi between October 2025 and this February.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
Rather than analyzing genes one by one, this technique identifies groups of genes whose behavior changes together, providing a broader picture of how immune cells respond to ultrasound treatment.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026
By analyzing tail hair samples, researchers found that herds living among wolves had cortisol levels 58% higher than those living in areas without wolves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
Chilton decided that he couldn’t and relegated him to his old role of analyzing companies for the guy who actually made the investment decisions.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
