Definitions for: Synthesis

[n] reasoning from the general to the particular (or from cause to effect)
[n] the combination of ideas into a complex whole
[n] the process of producing a chemical compound (usually by the union of simpler chemical compounds)

Webster (1913) Definition: Syn"the*sis, n.; pl. Syntheses. [L., a mixture,
properly, a putting together, Gr. ?, fr. ? to place or put
together; sy`n with + ? to place. See Thesis.]
1. Composition, or the putting of two or more things
together, as in compounding medicines.

2. (Chem.) The art or process of making a compound by putting
the ingredients together, as contrasted with analysis;
thus, water is made by synthesis from hydrogen and oxygen;
hence, specifically, the building up of complex compounds
by special reactions, whereby their component radicals are
so grouped that the resulting substances are identical in
every respect with the natural articles when such occur;
thus, artificial alcohol, urea, indigo blue, alizarin,
etc., are made by synthesis.

3. (Logic) The combination of separate elements of thought
into a whole, as of simple into complex conceptions,
species into genera, individual propositions into systems;
-- the opposite of analysis.

Analysis and synthesis, though commonly treated as
two different methods, are, if properly understood,
only the two necessary parts of the same method.
Each is the relative and correlative of the other.
--Sir W.
Hamilton.

Synonyms: deduction, deductive reasoning, synthetic thinking

Antonyms: analysis, analytic thinking

See Also: abstract thought, biogenesis, biosynthesis, chemical action, chemical change, chemical process, chemosynthesis, logical thinking, reasoning, syllogism

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