synthetic

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   of a proposition whose truth value is determined by observation or facts

   `all men are arrogant' is a synthetic proposition

2. 2
   adj

   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

3. 3
   adj

   not genuine or natural

   counterfeit rhetoric that flourishes when passions are synthetic- George Will

4. 4
   adj

   Produced by synthesis instead of being isolated from a natural source (but may be identical to a product so obtained).

   As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.

5. 5
   noun

   A synthetic compound.

   Only plastics and synthetics that cannot be recycled will end up in landfills, he said.

6. 6
   adj

   systematic combining of root and modifying elements into single words

7. 7
   adj

   artificial as if portrayed in a film

8. 8
   adj

   not of natural origin

Etymology

From French synthétique, from Ancient Greek συνθετικός (sunthetikós); Equivalent to synthesis + -ic (suffix formation of -tic).