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synthetic

sin-THET-ik/sɪnˈθɛtɪk/

Noun pluralsynthetics

5 meanings of synthetic

Practice

  1. 1
    adjective
    Made artificially by chemical synthesis rather than obtained from a natural source, whether identical to the natural substance or designed to imitate or act like it.

    Synthetic vitamin C is chemically identical to the vitamin in oranges.

    Customs officers seized a shipment of synthetic drugs hidden in a container of machine parts.

    Similarartificial, man-made

    Oppositenatural

    Note

    Chemistry uses the word for origin, not identity: a compound made in a laboratory can be exactly the substance a plant or animal produces and still be synthetic. The same word also covers compounds made only to act like a natural one, though built differently. In reporting on drugs, synthetic ones are set against grown ones, and The Economist in 2013 judged them harder to police than the hillsides and window-boxes where banned plants grow.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • A synthetic compound can be chemically identical to the substance obtained from a natural source. en.wiktionary.org
    • Synthetic compounds can differ chemically from natural substances while producing similar effects. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Economist published the cited comparison in 2013. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Economist judged controlling synthetic drugs harder than monitoring places where banned plants grow. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 2
    imitationadjective
    Artificial and not genuine, put on or manufactured rather than real.

    The host greeted every guest with the same synthetic smile.

    The band's synthetic charm wore thin after the first few songs.

    UsageUsually critical, with nouns like smile, charm or cheer: a synthetic smile.

    Similarartificial, fake, false, phony, insincere

    Oppositegenuine, real, sincere

  3. 3
    joining togetheradjective
    Relating to synthesis, the combining of separate elements into a whole.

    She runs a synthetic chemistry lab that designs new routes to known drugs.

    The review takes a synthetic approach, drawing the findings of a dozen studies into one picture.

    Similarintegrative

    Oppositeanalytic

    Note

    It carries no judgment at all, unlike the "fake" meaning: synthetic chemistry builds compounds from simpler parts, and a synthetic review gathers many findings into one account. It names a way of putting things together, never a kind of falseness.

  4. 4
    nouncountable or uncountable
    A compound or material made by chemical synthesis rather than taken from nature.

    The coat is lined with a light synthetic that dries quickly.

    Many runners prefer synthetics to cotton because they pull sweat away from the skin.

    UsageOften plural for fabrics: wash synthetics in cold water; one material is a synthetic.

    Note

    In everyday use the noun is a materials word, often heard in the plural: synthetics are man-made fibers and fabrics, the alternative to cotton or wool in clothing and sportswear, and they are grouped with plastics when talk turns to waste and recycling.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Synthetic textile materials are manufactured and used in clothing and sportswear as alternatives to natural fibres. eea.europa.eu
    • Synthetic textiles are considered alongside plastics in discussions of waste and recycling. eea.europa.eu

Less common meaning

  1. 5
    adjective
    In linguistics, of a language or grammatical form: expressing grammatical relationships mainly by joining bound morphemes, such as inflectional endings, within a word rather than by separate words; contrasted with analytic.

    Latin is a highly synthetic language that marks the role of each noun with its ending.

    Over the centuries English became less synthetic and came to rely more on word order.

    Similarinflectional

    Oppositeanalytic, isolating

    Note

    Linguists treat this as a matter of degree rather than a yes-or-no label: a language is more or less synthetic, and it can drift toward the analytic end over centuries, as English did when it shed most of its old endings and leaned on word order instead. Synthetic languages also differ among themselves: some glue on one clear piece per meaning, others fuse several meanings into a single ending.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • Linguistic synthesis is a matter of degree. cis.uni-muenchen.de
    • English became more analytic over centuries as most older inflections merged or disappeared. open.edu
    • English increasingly relied on word order as its inflections declined. open.edu
    • Agglutinative synthetic languages combine distinguishable morphemes. opentextbc.ca
    • A single ending can express several grammatical categories. wals.info

Practice

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Origin

The word goes back to Ancient Greek sunthetikós by way of French synthétique, and it can be broken down as synthesis plus -ic.