syntactic

American  

[sin-tak-tik] / sɪnˈtæk tɪk /

Also syntactical

adjective

1. of or relating to syntax.

   syntactic errors in English;

   the syntactic rules for computer source code.

2. consisting of or noting morphemes that are combined in the same order as they would be if they were separate words in a corresponding construction.

   The word blackberry, which consists of an adjective followed by a noun, is a syntactic compound.

---

Other Word Forms

• nonsyntactic adjective
• nonsyntactical adjective
• nonsyntactically adverb
• syntactically adverb
• unsyntactic adjective
• unsyntactical adjective
• unsyntactically adverb

Etymology

Origin of syntactic

1570–80; < New Latin syntacticus < Greek syntaktikós, equivalent to syntakt ( ós ) ordered, arranged together, verbid of syntássein to arrange together ( syn- syn- + tag-, base of tássein to arrange + -tos adj. suffix) + -ikos -ic; tactic

Example Sentences

As oxymorons go, it’s the operatic equivalent to Noam Chomsky’s famous syntactic puzzle “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.”

From New York Times

We talked about all sorts of things, and he loved it when I enthused about a simile or some syntactic tour de force.

From Washington Post

And they agree that complex, conditional, coherent, syntactic, if-this-then-that language, with a plan B and a plan C, would have required a big brain.

From New York Times

There is a deep hunger that Sondheim satisfies, for intelligence and syntactic rigor in a form that in lesser hands comes across as pat and lazy.

From Washington Post

“I’m a linguist, so I think everyone’s an egghead like me and wants to look at syntactic constructions,” he says.

From The Verge

Related Words

• linguistic
• semantic