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.
“We have to be mindful that there’s potential for disruptions from other systemic things like interest rates or energy prices that might not, at their surface, tie directly to the AI buildout,” Rinehart said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
People with the most advanced systemic aging had a 15% increased risk of early-onset solid cancer compared with participants showing the least advanced aging.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
Both books are living archives that name the dead and artfully discuss systemic injustice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
A review, published in May 2026, into how Katie's death was handled found "institutional misogyny" and "systemic failures" within the PSNI.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
He starts by talking about his experience growing up Black in Mississippi and moves on to talk about systemic racism and how we don’t even realize how embedded it is in our world.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
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.
