system

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   instrumentality that combines interrelated interacting artifacts designed to work as a coherent entity

   I bought a new stereo system.

2. 2
   noun

   the living body considered as made up of interdependent components forming a unified whole

   Exercise helped them get the alcohol out of their system.

3. 3
   noun

   a group of physiologically or anatomically related organs or parts

   Our body has a system of organs for digestion.

4. 4
   noun

   a complex of methods or rules governing behavior

   They have to operate under a system they oppose.

5. 5
   noun

   a procedure or process for obtaining an objective

   They had to devise a system that did not depend on cooperation.

6. 6
   noun

   a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising a unified whole

   A vast system of production and distribution and consumption keep the country going.

7. 7
   noun

   (physical chemistry) a sample of matter in which substances in different phases are in equilibrium

   In a static system oil cannot be replaced by water on a surface.

8. 8
   noun

   A group or set of related things that operate together as a complex whole.

   Every age has its characteristic, and our present one is not behind its predecessors in that respect; it is the age of systems, every system enforced by a treatise. The politician who opposes the corn-laws and advocates free trade, does so on a system, which, as soon as it begins to work, will set the civilized world to rights.

Etymology

Partly borrowed from Middle French sisteme, systeme, partly directly from its etymon Late Latin systēma (“harmony; musical scale; set of celestial objects; set of troops; system”), from Ancient Greek σύστημα (sústēma, “musical scale; organized body; whole made of several parts or members”), from σῠνίστημῐ (sŭnístēmĭ, “to combine, organize”) + -μᾰ (-mă, resultative suffix). σῠνίστημῐ is from σῠν- (sŭn-, “with, together”) + ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to stand”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”). Cognate with Dutch systeem, modern French système, German System, Italian sistema, Portugues…