Other forms: syntheses
A synthesis is the combining of separate ideas or findings into one whole. A synthesis of the evidence, achieve a synthesis, a synthesis of two traditions.
It is the counterpart of analysis, which takes things apart: analysis breaks down and synthesis builds up. That pairing is worth holding, because both words are central to academic writing and essays are usually marked on the second. In chemistry, synthesis is making a compound from simpler substances. The plural is syntheses. The adjective synthetic means made artificially, which is the same idea applied to materials — and it carries a faint suggestion of inferiority that the noun does not.
1nounsynthesisThe combining of separate parts or ideas into a whole.
“The chapter is a synthesis of forty years of research.”
synonyms: combination, integration
2nounchemistryIn chemistry, the making of a compound from simpler ones.
“The synthesis takes six steps and a very cold room.”
synthesis is a combining into a whole.
Greek synthesis meant a putting together — syn-, together, plus tithenai, to place, the same verb behind thesis and theme. Analysis loosens, synthesis places together, and the two Greek words have been a pair since Aristotle.
Proto-Indo-European
*sem-
Ancient Greek
σύνθεσις — a putting together; composition
Latin
synthesis
English, today
synthesis
Built from
From Latin synthesis, from Ancient Greek σύνθεσις (“a putting together; composition”), from συντίθημι (“put together, combine”), from συν- (“together”) + τίθημι (“set, place”). a doublet of sandhi.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA