synthesize
Americanverb (used with object)
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synthesizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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synthesized,
past participle, past
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synthesizing
present participle
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to form (a material or abstract entity) by combining parts or elements (opposed to analyze).
to synthesize a statement.
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Chemistry. to combine (constituent elements) into a single or unified entity.
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to treat synthetically.
verb (used without object)
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synthesizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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synthesized,
past participle, past
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synthesizing
present participle
verb
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to combine or cause to combine into a whole
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(tr) to produce by synthesis
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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synthesizationnoun
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resynthesizeverb (used with object)
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nonsynthesizedadjective
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unsynthesizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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synthesizesimple
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synthesizessimple
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have synthesizedperfect
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has synthesizedperfect
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am synthesizingprogressive
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are synthesizingprogressive
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is synthesizingprogressive
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have been synthesizingperfect progressive
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has been synthesizingperfect progressive
Past
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synthesizedsimple
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had synthesizedperfect
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was synthesizingprogressive
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were synthesizingprogressive
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had been synthesizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of synthesize
First recorded in 1820–30; synthes(is) + -ize
Explanation
When you synthesize, you combine two or more things to create something more complex. It's becoming more common for doctors these days to synthesize Eastern and Western approaches to medicine. While synthesize was first used in 1830, scientists and inventors were doing what it means long before that, mixing stuff together to create new materials and products. Medical researchers chemically synthesize chemicals every day in the lab, hoping to create the next wonder drug. When you write a research paper on a given topic, you must find and synthesize information related to that topic, so you can understand what it means and structure an argument in support of your thesis.
Vocabulary lists containing synthesize
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Argumentative Writing
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Vocabulary of the Common Core
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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:
The new agentic Siri boasts the ability to synthesize data across areas like messages, emails and photos and carry out multistep actions across different apps.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 7, 2026
Generative AI can synthesize and extrapolate in valuable ways, but it also can produce wrong answers or take on tasks that educators would see as inappropriate or counterproductive — such as writing papers for students.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
Mr. Woolfson also lingers admiringly on Har Gobind Khorana, a village clerk’s son in British India who went on to synthesize the first fully artificial gene in 1972.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Even when a material appears promising on paper, it may still prove impractical because it is too difficult to synthesize or impossible to produce at scale, Törmä notes.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026
All of the disputed territories contain valuable minerals, and some of them yield important vegetable products such as rubber which in colder climates it is necessary to synthesize by comparatively expensive methods.
From "1984" by George Orwell
It’s usually everyone building off of each other, and then someone synthesizes those ideas, pitches it out to the room, and you feel this collective relief and excitement within that room.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 25, 2025
“Each night, it synthesizes information from your memory, chat history and direct feedback to learn what’s most relevant to you.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 16, 2025
The platform’s AI then synthesizes this information and generates a robust appeal letter that incorporates data from peer-reviewed scientific evidence, legal precedents where insurers have lost in court and relevant policy.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2025
"Without the CB5D gene, the plant synthesizes only a small amount of S-lignin," said Xianhai Zhao, a postdoctoral researcher at Brookhaven and lead author on the new paper.
From Science Daily ● May 17, 2024
Parks Canada is also taking advantage of another technological development called stereophotogrammetry, which produces pictures in pairs and then synthesizes hundreds of these pairings to produce extraordinarily clear images of whatever object is being studied.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
Sil synthesized the predicted genes and used cells to produce the reconstructed ancient proteins.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026
Perhaps the most striking is the story of Compound E, an adrenal hormone isolated by the Mayo Clinic biochemist Edward Kendall in 1935 and later synthesized with great difficulty by Tishler and other Merck chemists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
"We were not expecting that because these proteins are mainly synthesized in the liver," says Manish Mishra, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in the Dixit lab and a co-first author of the study.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026
It was first synthesized from thymosin β4 in 2003 and has since been used to help horses and greyhounds improve racing performance.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
And the lives of these old black women were synthesized in their eyes—a puree of tragedy and humor, wickedness and serenity, truth and fantasy.
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
In a new study published in Nature Electronics, a Harvard led research team unveiled a silicon chip capable of synthesizing 64 different DNA sequences at the same time.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
But Socolow came off as masterful at synthesizing energy challenges and environmental concerns, and Pacala brought deep knowledge of how carbon moves between Earth’s atmosphere, land and oceans.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026
Though far from perfect, AI systems already outperform human customer-service agents on many routine tasks, particularly in gathering, synthesizing and consistently delivering information.
From MarketWatch ● May 11, 2026
Even the pioneers of AI will tell you, Stassun said, in many cases, what AI does very well is rapidly synthesizing, consolidating or repackaging existing information.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2026
The explanation is that occasional individual almond trees have a mutation in a single gene that prevents them from synthesizing the bitter-tasting amygdalin.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
