synthesis mean

• Daily Crossword
• Word Puzzle
• Word Finder

Word of the Day

• Synonym of the Day
• Word of the Year
• Language stories
• All featured
• Gender and sexuality
• All pop culture
• Grammar Coach ™
• Writing hub
• Grammar essentials
• Commonly confused
• All writing tips
• Pop culture
• Writing tips

Advertisement

[ sin -th uh -sahyz ]

verb (used with object)

to synthesize a statement.

• Chemistry. to combine (constituent elements) into a single or unified entity.
• to treat synthetically .

verb (used without object)

• to make or form a synthesis .

/ ˈsɪnθɪˌsaɪz /

• to combine or cause to combine into a whole
• tr to produce by synthesis

Discover More

Derived forms.

• ˌsynthesiˈzation , noun

Other Words From

• synthe·si·zation noun
• non·synthe·sized adjective
• re·synthe·size verb (used with object) resynthesized resynthesizing
• un·synthe·sized adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of synthesize 1

Example Sentences

Its team helped us analyze the data we collected and synthesize the information.

Although more controversial than synthesizing meat from everyday plant materials like soy or wheat, the technology is growing fast.

At present this relies on synthesizing DNA in the lab, and while costs are falling rapidly, this is still a complicated and expensive business.

Once synthesized, the sequences then have to be carefully stored in vitro until they’re ready to be accessed again, or they can be spliced into living cells using CRISPR gene editing technology.

If we could design and synthesize artificial mRNA and deliver them into cells, it’s possible in theory to hijack our cells’ own protein-building system to make any protein we want—even those that are foreign, such as viral proteins.

My talent is being able to synthesize this information to become understandable to myself and then therefore to the layperson.

Wade, as chief chemist, you are to synthesize a little coffee and heat-treat a few eggs for us.

Diverse facts would synthesize, and when the letter came from Havana, perhaps the whole thing would start to form one pattern.

There were ways to synthesize Earth-normal food, but they were still hopelessly inefficient.

All we've been able to find is some strange isotope but we don't know how to reproduce it or synthesize it.

The plants here synthesize cyanophyll instead of chlorophyll; that's why the leaves are blue instead of green.

Related Words

• incorporate

[ ak -s uh -lot-l ]

Start each day with the Word of the Day in your inbox!

By clicking "Sign Up", you are accepting Dictionary.com Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policies.

• More from M-W
• To save this word, you'll need to log in. Log In

Definition of synthesize

transitive verb

intransitive verb

Did you know?

Synthesize is a very common word in chemistry, since chemists are constantly synthesizing new compounds—that is, synthetic compounds—including drugs and industrial chemicals. It's also often used when talking about writing; nonfiction writers must often synthesize large amounts of material from many sources to produce a book—which represents a synthesis of the important materials. An electronic synthesizer creates new sounds (which may imitate the sounds of acoustic instruments) by generating different basic tones and then manipulating and merging them together with others.

Examples of synthesize in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'synthesize.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

1830, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Dictionary Entries Near synthesize

synthesis gas

synthesizer

Cite this Entry

“Synthesize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/synthesize. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of synthesize, medical definition, medical definition of synthesize, more from merriam-webster on synthesize.

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for synthesize

Nglish: Translation of synthesize for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of synthesize for Arabic Speakers

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Can you solve 4 words at once?

Word of the day.

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

More commonly misspelled words, commonly misspelled words, how to use em dashes (—), en dashes (–) , and hyphens (-), absent letters that are heard anyway, how to use accents and diacritical marks, popular in wordplay, the words of the week - apr. 19, 10 words from taylor swift songs (merriam's version), 9 superb owl words, 10 words for lesser-known games and sports, your favorite band is in the dictionary, games & quizzes.

• Dictionaries home
• American English
• Collocations
• German-English
• Grammar home
• Practical English Usage
• Learn & Practise Grammar (Beta)
• Word Lists home
• My Word Lists
• Recent additions
• Resources home
• Text Checker

Definition of synthesize verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

Want to learn more?

Find out which words work together and produce more natural-sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app. Try it for free as part of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.

Definition of 'synthesis'

Video: pronunciation of synthesis

synthesis in American English

Synthesis in british english, synthesis in the pharmaceutical industry, examples of 'synthesis' in a sentence synthesis, related word partners synthesis, trends of synthesis.

View usage over: Since Exist Last 10 years Last 50 years Last 100 years Last 300 years

In other languages synthesis

• American English : synthesis / ˈsɪnθɪsɪs /
• Brazilian Portuguese : síntese
• Chinese : 结合体
• European Spanish : síntesis
• French : synthèse
• German : Synthese
• Italian : sintesi
• Japanese : 総合体
• Korean : 종합
• European Portuguese : síntese
• Spanish : síntesis
• Thai : การสังเคราะห์

Browse alphabetically synthesis

• synthase activity
• synthesis gas
• synthesis pathway
• synthesiser
• All ENGLISH words that begin with 'S'

Related terms of synthesis

• lipid synthesis
• voice synthesis
• aperture synthesis
• chemical synthesis
• View more related words

Quick word challenge

Quiz Review

Score: 0 / 5

Wordle Helper

Scrabble Tools

How to Synthesize Written Information from Multiple Sources

Shona McCombes

Content Manager

B.A., English Literature, University of Glasgow

Shona McCombes is the content manager at Scribbr, Netherlands.

Learn about our Editorial Process

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

On This Page:

When you write a literature review or essay, you have to go beyond just summarizing the articles you’ve read – you need to synthesize the literature to show how it all fits together (and how your own research fits in).

Synthesizing simply means combining. Instead of summarizing the main points of each source in turn, you put together the ideas and findings of multiple sources in order to make an overall point.

At the most basic level, this involves looking for similarities and differences between your sources. Your synthesis should show the reader where the sources overlap and where they diverge.

Unsynthesized Example

Franz (2008) studied undergraduate online students. He looked at 17 females and 18 males and found that none of them liked APA. According to Franz, the evidence suggested that all students are reluctant to learn citations style. Perez (2010) also studies undergraduate students. She looked at 42 females and 50 males and found that males were significantly more inclined to use citation software ( p < .05). Findings suggest that females might graduate sooner. Goldstein (2012) looked at British undergraduates. Among a sample of 50, all females, all confident in their abilities to cite and were eager to write their dissertations.

Synthesized Example

Studies of undergraduate students reveal conflicting conclusions regarding relationships between advanced scholarly study and citation efficacy. Although Franz (2008) found that no participants enjoyed learning citation style, Goldstein (2012) determined in a larger study that all participants watched felt comfortable citing sources, suggesting that variables among participant and control group populations must be examined more closely. Although Perez (2010) expanded on Franz’s original study with a larger, more diverse sample…

Step 1: Organize your sources

After collecting the relevant literature, you’ve got a lot of information to work through, and no clear idea of how it all fits together.

Before you can start writing, you need to organize your notes in a way that allows you to see the relationships between sources.

One way to begin synthesizing the literature is to put your notes into a table. Depending on your topic and the type of literature you’re dealing with, there are a couple of different ways you can organize this.

Summary table

A summary table collates the key points of each source under consistent headings. This is a good approach if your sources tend to have a similar structure – for instance, if they’re all empirical papers.

Each row in the table lists one source, and each column identifies a specific part of the source. You can decide which headings to include based on what’s most relevant to the literature you’re dealing with.

For example, you might include columns for things like aims, methods, variables, population, sample size, and conclusion.

For each study, you briefly summarize each of these aspects. You can also include columns for your own evaluation and analysis.

The summary table gives you a quick overview of the key points of each source. This allows you to group sources by relevant similarities, as well as noticing important differences or contradictions in their findings.

Synthesis matrix

A synthesis matrix is useful when your sources are more varied in their purpose and structure – for example, when you’re dealing with books and essays making various different arguments about a topic.

Each column in the table lists one source. Each row is labeled with a specific concept, topic or theme that recurs across all or most of the sources.

Then, for each source, you summarize the main points or arguments related to the theme.

The purposes of the table is to identify the common points that connect the sources, as well as identifying points where they diverge or disagree.

Step 2: Outline your structure

Now you should have a clear overview of the main connections and differences between the sources you’ve read. Next, you need to decide how you’ll group them together and the order in which you’ll discuss them.

For shorter papers, your outline can just identify the focus of each paragraph; for longer papers, you might want to divide it into sections with headings.

There are a few different approaches you can take to help you structure your synthesis.

If your sources cover a broad time period, and you found patterns in how researchers approached the topic over time, you can organize your discussion chronologically .

That doesn’t mean you just summarize each paper in chronological order; instead, you should group articles into time periods and identify what they have in common, as well as signalling important turning points or developments in the literature.

If the literature covers various different topics, you can organize it thematically .

That means that each paragraph or section focuses on a specific theme and explains how that theme is approached in the literature.

Source Used with Permission: The Chicago School

If you’re drawing on literature from various different fields or they use a wide variety of research methods, you can organize your sources methodologically .

That means grouping together studies based on the type of research they did and discussing the findings that emerged from each method.

If your topic involves a debate between different schools of thought, you can organize it theoretically .

That means comparing the different theories that have been developed and grouping together papers based on the position or perspective they take on the topic, as well as evaluating which arguments are most convincing.

Step 3: Write paragraphs with topic sentences

What sets a synthesis apart from a summary is that it combines various sources. The easiest way to think about this is that each paragraph should discuss a few different sources, and you should be able to condense the overall point of the paragraph into one sentence.

This is called a topic sentence , and it usually appears at the start of the paragraph. The topic sentence signals what the whole paragraph is about; every sentence in the paragraph should be clearly related to it.

A topic sentence can be a simple summary of the paragraph’s content:

“Early research on [x] focused heavily on [y].”

For an effective synthesis, you can use topic sentences to link back to the previous paragraph, highlighting a point of debate or critique:

“Several scholars have pointed out the flaws in this approach.” “While recent research has attempted to address the problem, many of these studies have methodological flaws that limit their validity.”

By using topic sentences, you can ensure that your paragraphs are coherent and clearly show the connections between the articles you are discussing.

As you write your paragraphs, avoid quoting directly from sources: use your own words to explain the commonalities and differences that you found in the literature.

Don’t try to cover every single point from every single source – the key to synthesizing is to extract the most important and relevant information and combine it to give your reader an overall picture of the state of knowledge on your topic.

Step 4: Revise, edit and proofread

Like any other piece of academic writing, synthesizing literature doesn’t happen all in one go – it involves redrafting, revising, editing and proofreading your work.

Checklist for Synthesis

•   Do I introduce the paragraph with a clear, focused topic sentence?
•   Do I discuss more than one source in the paragraph?
•   Do I mention only the most relevant findings, rather than describing every part of the studies?
•   Do I discuss the similarities or differences between the sources, rather than summarizing each source in turn?
•   Do I put the findings or arguments of the sources in my own words?
•   Is the paragraph organized around a single idea?
•   Is the paragraph directly relevant to my research question or topic?
•   Is there a logical transition from this paragraph to the next one?

Further Information

How to Synthesise: a Step-by-Step Approach

Help…I”ve Been Asked to Synthesize!

Learn how to Synthesise (combine information from sources)

How to write a Psychology Essay

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Meaning of synthesize in English

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio

• absorptive capacity
• absorptivity
• acidification
• endothermic reaction
• excitability

synthesize | Business English

Examples of synthesize, translations of synthesize.

Get a quick, free translation!

Word of the Day

the fact that people or animals do what they are told to do

Dead ringers and peas in pods (Talking about similarities, Part 2)

Learn more with +Plus

• Recent and Recommended {{#preferredDictionaries}} {{name}} {{/preferredDictionaries}}
• Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
• Grammar and thesaurus Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English Grammar Thesaurus
• Pronunciation British and American pronunciations with audio English Pronunciation
• English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
• English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
• English–Dutch Dutch–English
• English–French French–English
• English–German German–English
• English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
• English–Italian Italian–English
• English–Japanese Japanese–English
• English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
• English–Polish Polish–English
• English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
• English–Spanish Spanish–English
• English–Swedish Swedish–English
• Dictionary +Plus Word Lists
• English    Verb
• Business    Verb
• Translations
• All translations

Add synthesize to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

{{message}}

Something went wrong.

There was a problem sending your report.

Words and phrases

Personal account.

• Access or purchase personal subscriptions
• Get our newsletter
• Save searches
• Set display preferences

Institutional access

Sign in with library card

Sign in with username / password

Recommend to your librarian

Institutional account management

Sign in as administrator on Oxford Academic

synthesis noun

• Hide all quotations

What does the noun synthesis mean?

There are 11 meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun synthesis , one of which is labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

synthesis has developed meanings and uses in subjects including

Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

How common is the noun synthesis ?

How is the noun synthesis pronounced, british english, u.s. english, where does the noun synthesis come from.

Earliest known use

early 1600s

The earliest known use of the noun synthesis is in the early 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for synthesis is from 1606, in a translation by Philemon Holland, translator.

synthesis is a borrowing from Latin.

Etymons: Latin synthesis .

Nearby entries

• synteresis, n. 1594–
• synteresy, n. 1616–58
• synteretic, adj. 1704
• synteretics, n. 1706
• syntexis, n. 1911–
• synth, n. 1976–
• synthalin, n. 1927–
• synthase, n. 1954–
• syntheme, n. 1658–
• synthermal, adj. & n. 1839–
• synthesis, n. 1606–
• synthesis gas, n. 1941–
• synthesist, n. 1863–
• synthesize, v. 1830–
• synthesizer, n. 1869–
• synthespian, n. 1989–
• synthetase, n. 1947–
• synthete, n. 1896–
• synthetic, adj. & n. 1697–
• synthetical, adj. 1620–
• synthetically, adv. 1749–

Thank you for visiting Oxford English Dictionary

To continue reading, please sign in below or purchase a subscription. After purchasing, please sign in below to access the content.

Meaning & use

Pronunciation, compounds & derived words, entry history for synthesis, n..

synthesis, n. was first published in 1919; not yet revised.

synthesis, n. was last modified in September 2023.

Revision of the OED is a long-term project. Entries in oed.com which have not been revised may include:

• corrections and revisions to definitions, pronunciation, etymology, headwords, variant spellings, quotations, and dates;
• new senses, phrases, and quotations which have been added in subsequent print and online updates.

Revisions and additions of this kind were last incorporated into synthesis, n. in September 2023.

Earlier versions of this entry were published in:

OED First Edition (1919)

• Find out more

OED Second Edition (1989)

• View synthesis in OED Second Edition

Please submit your feedback for synthesis, n.

Please include your email address if you are happy to be contacted about your feedback. OUP will not use this email address for any other purpose.

Citation details

Factsheet for synthesis, n., browse entry.