systemic
Americanadjective
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of or relating to a system, especially when affecting the entirety of a thing.
systemic flaws in the design and construction of the vehicles.
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relating to or noting a policy, practice, or set of beliefs that has been established as normative or customary throughout a political, social, or economic system: systemic racism.
systemic inequality;
systemic racism.
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Physiology, Pathology.
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relating to or affecting the body as a whole.
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relating to or affecting a particular body system.
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(of a pesticide) absorbed and circulated by a plant or other organism so as to be lethal to pests that feed on it.
adjective
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another word for systematic systematic
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physiol (of a poison, disease, etc) affecting the entire body
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(of a pesticide, fungicide, etc) spreading through all the parts of a plant and making it toxic to pests or parasites without destroying it
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of systemic
Explanation
Something that's systemic affects all parts of something. If every dog at doggy daycare has fleas, it's a systemic problem. The adjective systemic is often used to describe diseases or disorders; a systemic illness affects your whole body or an entire system — like your digestive system. Any kind of system can experience systemic problems. For example, crime is a systemic problem in a community because it affects everyone from individuals to families, businesses, and tourism, just to name a few groups harmed by the problem.
Vocabulary lists containing systemic
President Biden's Inaugural Speech (January 2021)
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Stamped
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Just Mercy
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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.
Promesa was enacted by Congress to address precisely this type of systemic economic and financial distress in a U.S. territory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
A recession followed, but a mild one based on history, with AI debt not systemic and some tech-related defaults.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026
The BBC's Africa correspondent Barbara Plett Usher speaks to two doctors who support the claims of systemic targeting of hospitals.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
He soon began to see systemic issues represented in his pictures — such as the ways Black people are expected to conform to white standards of beauty.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
What makes an insecticide a systemic is the ability to permeate all the tissues of a plant or animal and make them toxic.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
