Syntheses

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Synthesis \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.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              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.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  synthesis
       n 1: the process of producing a chemical compound (usually by the
            union of simpler chemical compounds)
       2: the combination of ideas into a complex whole [syn: {synthetic
          thinking}] [ant: {analysis}]
       3: reasoning from the general to the particular (or from cause
          to effect) [syn: {deduction}, {deductive reasoning}]
       [also: {syntheses} (pl)]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  syntheses
       See {synthesis}