Main Entry: anal·y·sis

Pronunciation: \ə-ˈna-lə-səs\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural anal·y·ses \-ˌsēz\

Etymology: New Latin, from Greek, from analyein to break up, from ana- + lyein to loosen — more at lose

Date: 1581

1 : separation of a whole into its component parts
2 a : the identification or separation of ingredients of a substance b : a statement of the constituents of a mixture
3 a : proof of a mathematical proposition by assuming the result and deducing a valid statement by a series of reversible steps b (1) : a branch of mathematics concerned mainly with limits, continuity, and infinite series (2) : calculus 1b
4 a : an examination of a complex, its elements, and their relations b : a statement of such an analysis
5 a : a method in philosophy of resolving complex expressions into simpler or more basic ones b : clarification of an expression by an elucidation of its use in discourse
6 : the use of function words instead of inflectional forms as a characteristic device of a language
7 : psychoanalysis