syntax

American  

[sin-taks] / ˈsɪn tæks /

noun

syntaxes plural

1. Linguistics. Rarely

   1. the study of the rules and patterns by which sentences and phrases are formed in a language.

   2. the rules or patterns so studied.

      Some people find English syntax hard to master.

   3. a presentation of these rules or patterns.

      His syntax of German is famous in the field.

   4. an instance of these rules or patterns.

      The syntax of that sentence is odd.

2. Computers. the grammatical rules and structural patterns governing the ordered use of appropriate words and symbols for issuing commands, writing code, etc., in a particular software application or programming language.

3. Logic.

   1. the branch of modern logic that studies the various kinds of signs that occur in a system and the possible arrangements of those signs, without reference to their meaning.

   2. the outcome of such a study when directed upon a specified language.

4. a system or orderly arrangement.

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syntax British  

/ ˈsɪntæks /

noun

1. the branch of linguistics that deals with the grammatical arrangement of words and morphemes in the sentences of a language or of languages in general

2. the totality of facts about the grammatical arrangement of words in a language

3. a systematic statement of the rules governing the grammatical arrangement of words and morphemes in a language

4. logic a systematic statement of the rules governing the properly formed formulas of a logical system

5. any orderly arrangement or system

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syntax Cultural  

1. The sequence in which words are put together to form sentences. In English, the usual sequence is subject, verb, and object.

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Discover More

Syntactic languages, such as English, use word order to indicate word relationships. Inflected languages (see inflection), such as Greek and Latin, use word endings and other inflections to indicate relationships.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• syntaxes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of syntax

First recorded in 1565–75; short for earlier syntaxis

Explanation

One of the hardest things about learning a new language is figuring out the syntax, or the basic rules for the way that words and phrases should be arranged in a sentence in order for it to make sense. Syntax isn't necessarily something you think about when you're speaking, but the order of words in a sentence can make a huge difference to its meaning. If you aren't convinced, try telling a waiter that you'd like "a slice of dessert for cake." And then, as the waiter stands there looking confused, try explaining that you don't think "important is very syntax."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

syntax syntaxes

The work was subsequently submitted to reading committees, tasked with checking its syntax and overall coherence.

From Barron's ● May 4, 2026

"If someone looks closely, they can spot Russian syntax in these videos."

From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2026

When rendering spoken words in print, it’s standard practice to delete the “uhs” and “ums” and “likes,” remove irrelevant false starts and silently correct the minor errors of grammar and syntax endemic to human speech.

From Salon ● Feb. 22, 2026

She’s a cracking storyteller, don’t get me wrong, but sentence to sentence there’s not a lot going on, and there are hiccups in her grammar and syntax.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025

It’s just one way to display syntax on a page, and not a particularly good one, with user-unfriendly features such as scrambled word order and arbitrary graphical conventions.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

Early on, we are exposed to simple spoken words and syntaxes that are often not represented in writing.

From New York Times ● May 30, 2023

Sun also devised an “application programming interface” consisting of command names and syntaxes that programmers would use to communicate with the tools.

From Slate ● Oct. 5, 2020

Such a wide variety of shapes and syntaxes should feel disruptive.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2016

"Yes, he swims around most of the time in a sea of declensions, conjugations, and syntaxes, in Greek, Latin and English."

From A Romance of Billy-Goat Hill by Rice, Alice Caldwell Hegan

They have been inherited by C++ and Java, which have C-like syntaxes.

From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Steele, Guy L.