synthetic adj

1 not of natural origin; prepared or made artificially; "man-made fibers"; "synthetic leather" [syn: man-made, semisynthetic]

2 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 [syn: synthetical] [ant: analytic]

3 systematic combining of root and modifying elements into single words [ant: analytic]

4 of a proposition whose truth value is determined by observation or facts; "`all men are arrogant' is a synthetic proposition" [syn: synthetical] [ant: analytic]

5 artificial as if portrayed in a film; "a novel with flat celluloid characters" [syn: celluloid]

6 not genuine or natural; "counterfeit rhetoric that flourishes when passions are synthetic"- George Will n : a compound made artificially by chemical reactions

English

Adjective

synthetic

1. Of, or relating to synthesis.
2. Produced by synthesis instead of being isolated from a natural source (but may be identical to a product so obtained).
3. Artificial, not genuine.
4. Pertaining to the joining of bound morphemes in a word. Compare analytic.

Derived terms

• nucleosynthetic

Translations

• Chinese: 合成的 (héchéng de)
• Czech: syntetický
• French: synthétique (1)
• German: synthetisch
• Portuguese: sintético (1,2), artificial (3)
• Spanish: sintético

Noun

synthetic

1. A synthetic compound.

Synthetic is usually used in the sense of synthesis, the combination of two or more parts, whether by design or by natural processes. It can also be used as in:

• Synthetic chemical or synthetic compound, produced by Chemical synthesis
• Synthetic fiber, a fiber not made from natural (animal, plant) materials
• Synthetic language, a language type using many complex word forms
• Synthetic options position, a concept in finance
• Synthetic proposition, a concept in philosophy
• Synthesizer, a machine to create artificial sounds

adhesive, artificial, bogus, cast plastic, cellulose plastic, counterfeit, ersatz, extruded plastic, fake, false, imitation, laminate, man-made, manufactured, mock, molded plastic, molding compounds, plastic, polymer, protein plastic, pseudo, resin plastic, sham, spurious, synthetic fabric, synthetic rubber, thermoplastic, thermosetting plastic