systematic

1. 1
   adjective

   Done through a sequence of steps arranged in advance.

   Investigators conducted a systematic search of the building, floor by floor.

   The company adopted a systematic process for handling customer complaints.

   Similarmethodical, organized, orderly, structured, thorough

   Oppositehaphazard, random, unsystematic, disorganized

2. 2
   adjective

   Methodical and orderly; marked by regularity and care.

   She is famously systematic, labeling every file and folder.

   A systematic thinker, he weighed each option before deciding.

   Similarmethodical, orderly, organized, meticulous

   Oppositechaotic, haphazard

   Note

   Here the word moves from a procedure to a temperament or a pattern of conduct. A person, a habit or a whole campaign can be systematic. Its natural opposites are haphazard and chaotic. Paired with a harsh adjective, as in a ruthless and systematic campaign, it can sound chilling, because order applied to harm reads as deliberate rather than accidental.

3. 3
   adjective

   Treating something as a system or coherent whole rather than as separate, unrelated parts.

   Ecologists favor a systematic understanding of the wetland, linking water, soil, and wildlife.

   Her systematic analysis of the economy connected each sector to the others.

   Similarholistic, integrated

   Oppositepiecemeal, fragmented

   Note

   The whole-system sense often shares its phrases with the methodical one. A systematic study of religious beliefs may be a carefully ordered study, or one that treats the beliefs as a connected body in which each part explains the others. Context decides. When the point is how the parts fit together, it helps to say so outright, for example by speaking of the beliefs as a system.

4. 4
   adjective

   Of or relating to the taxonomic classification of organisms.

   The systematic position of the fungus was revised after DNA analysis.

   Her systematic study placed the new species within an existing genus.

   Similartaxonomic

   Note

   A biologist's word, tied to systematics: the science of sorting organisms into a hierarchy by their evolutionary relationships and shared characteristics. A systematic position is a place in that hierarchy, such as genus or family. A systematic botanist is a classifier of plants, not merely a tidy one, so be careful not to read the "methodical" meaning into it.

5. 5
   adjective

   Of or conforming to the recognized conventions for naming chemical compounds.

   The systematic name 2-hydroxybenzoic acid identifies the compound more precisely than its common name.

   Each new molecule receives a systematic designation under the agreed naming rules.

   Oppositetrivial

   Note

   Chemists set the systematic name against the common one. A systematic name follows standardized rules, such as those of IUPAC, that build a unique name from the compound's structure. A trained reader can therefore work back from the name to the molecule. In this sense the word almost always attaches to name, nomenclature or designation.

6. 6
   adverbcolloquial

   In a methodical, orderly manner; according to a system.

   "Those inspectors went through our books real systematic, page by page," the owner grumbled.

   "You want to find that leak, you got to go about it systematic and patient," the old plumber said.

   Similarmethodically, thoroughly, carefully

   Oppositehaphazardly, randomly

   Note

   A flat adverb, used where standard English adds -ly. "They will begin catching us systematic," says a character in H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds (1898). It belongs to reported speech and rough-edged dialogue, often paired with another bare adjective, as in "systematic and thorough." Use it to give a voice to a speaker. In ordinary writing, choose systematically.

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