synthesis

Definitions

syn- (together) + thesis (a placing) = a placing-together. Synthesis is what results when separate pieces are set side by side and fused into one whole — ideas merged into a unified view, or simple chemicals built up into a complex compound. It's the opposite of analysis, which takes things apart.

Why It Means This

The word carries one image into two very different fields. In essays and arguments, synthesis means pulling scattered sources together into a single coherent position. In chemistry and biology, it means physically building a substance up from simpler parts (chemical synthesis, protein synthesis). Both are the same act of "placing together" — one with ideas, one with molecules.

Common Collocations

• 1.chemical synthesis化学合成
• 2.protein synthesis蛋白质合成
• 3.synthesis of ideas观点综合
• 4.speech synthesis语音合成
• 5.a synthesis of……的综合

Example Sentences

• 1.

  Her report is a synthesis of ideas from dozens of interviews.

• 2.

  The synthesis of this compound requires very high temperatures.

• 3.

  Good writing demands a synthesis of clear thinking and careful editing.

• 4.

  Protein synthesis takes place inside the cell's ribosomes.

Easily Confused

synthesis vs analysis — analysis breaks a whole into parts (ana- = apart); synthesis builds parts into a whole (syn- = together). They're the two halves of thinking: take apart to understand, put together to create.