syntactic

adjective

syn·​tac·​tic sin-ˈtak-tik How to pronounce syntactic (audio)
variants or syntactical
: of, relating to, or according to the rules of syntax or syntactics
syntactically adverb

Examples of syntactic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web On top of that sequence, there's a structure, a syntactic tree that includes noun phrases and verb phrases. IEEE Spectrum, 14 Oct. 2021 After hundreds of trial and error steps, just like with biological evolution, the system evolves the best meaning and their syntactic/grammatical translation. IEEE Spectrum, 17 Mar. 2016 Most of their bulk comes from blocks of syntactic foam—a buoyant, crush-resistant material made of glass microspheres in epoxy resin—that are padded around the frame. Susan Casey, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Aug. 2023 Additionally, simply by filling in enough puzzles, our brains can learn that multi-word crossword answers must form what linguists call a syntactic constituent—a group of words that functions together as a complete unit, the way safe and reliable does but safe and doesn’t. Scott Anderbois, The Atlantic, 6 Aug. 2023 Most deep-ocean submersibles use spherical titanium hulls and are counterbalanced in water by syntactic foam, a buoyant material made up of millions of hollow glass balls, which is attached to the external frame. Ben Taub, The New Yorker, 1 July 2023 The back half of the sub holds blocks of a buoyant material called syntactic foam, composed of hollow glass microspheres embedded in an epoxy matrix; the newest type of this material can stand up to the deepest sea pressures. Eliza Strickland, IEEE Spectrum, 29 Feb. 2012 First there was the Trieste in 1960 and then about 50 years later another attempt led by James Cameron using second-generation technology with syntactic foam instead of hollow glass beads and a matrix of epoxy that doesn’t compress but stays buoyant. Sunset Magazine, 19 Nov. 2020 Songbirds possess the spontaneous ability to discriminate syntactic rules. Jennifer Barone, Discover Magazine, 6 Nov. 2011

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

Word History

Etymology

New Latin syntacticus, from Greek syntaktikos arranging together, from syntassein

First Known Use

1577, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of syntactic was in 1577

Dictionary Entries Near syntactic

Cite this Entry

“Syntactic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syntactic. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

syntactic

adjective
syn·​tac·​tic sin-ˈtak-tik How to pronounce syntactic (audio)
variants or syntactical
: of, relating to, or according to the rules of syntax
syntactically adverb

Medical Definition

syntactic

adjective
syn·​tac·​tic sin-ˈtak-tik How to pronounce syntactic (audio)
variants or syntactical
: of or relating to syntactics
syntactically adverb

More from Merriam-Webster on syntactic

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