synthetic
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Produced by synthesis instead of being isolated from a natural source.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sihnthehtikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
sɪnˈθɛtɪk
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
chemistry
Produced by synthesis instead of being isolated from a natural source (but may be identical to a product so obtained).
medicine
Produced by synthesis, thought to have the same effect as its natural counterpart, but chemically different from it.
Involving or of the nature of synthesis (combining separate elements to form a coherent whole) as opposed to analysis
“Limnology is essentially a synthetic science composed of elements...that extend well beyond the limits of biology"- P.S.Welch.”
Of, or relating to synthesis.
Artificial, not genuine.
noun
A synthetic compound.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Produced by synthesis instead of being isolated from a natural source (but may be identical to a product so obtained).
Used this way, synthetic is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Nearby words
- semisynthetic , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Synthetic narcotic drug similar to morphine but less habit-forming.
A resin having a polymeric structure.
Any of various synthetic elastic materials whose properties resemble natural rubber.
A compound made artificially by chemical reactions.
The combination of ideas into a complex whole.
The late phase of cubism.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.