Synthesis

How to spell synthesis

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce synthesis

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does synthesis mean?

1. nounThe combination of separate ideas, elements, or substances to form a coherent or unified whole.

Synthesis in a sentence

• Her final report was a careful synthesis of the team's research.

• The chemistry lecture covered the synthesis of aspirin from raw compounds.

Where does synthesis come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word comes from the Greek synthesis, meaning 'a putting together' or 'composition'. It was built from the prefix syn-, meaning 'together' or 'with', and thesis, meaning 'a placing' or 'setting down', which itself derives from the verb tithenai, 'to put or place'. The Greek term described the act of combining separate elements into a unified whole, and it passed into Latin and then into English in the early 1600s, first appearing in scholarly and scientific writing. Chemistry later adopted it for the building up of a compound from simpler substances, the exact opposite of analysis, which means a 'loosening up' or breaking apart. The same thesis root surfaces in many English words such as thesis, hypothesis, and parenthesis, and remembering that family helps fix the tricky 'th' in the middle and the ending '-sis' rather than '-sus'.

How the word is built

• syn- (together)
• thesis (a placing, from tithenai: to put or place)