analyze

play

verb an·a·lyze \ ˈa-nə-ˌlīz \

Definition of analyze

analyzed; analyzing

transitive verb

1 :to study or determine the nature and relationship of the parts of (something) by analysis

2 :to subject to scientific or grammatical analysis

chemically analyze a specimen

analyze a sentence

3 :psychoanalyze

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analyzability

play \ˌa-nə-ˌlī-zə-ˈbi-lə-tē\ noun

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analyzable

play \ˈa-nə-ˌlī-zə-bəl\ adjective

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analyzer

play \-ˌlī-zər\ noun

See analyze defined for English-language learners

See analyze defined for kids

Examples of analyze in a Sentence

While Wroe offers some basic biographical information and quotes copiously from Shelley's writings, she does not tell a chronological story or analyze individual poems. —Adam Kirsch, New Yorker, 27 Aug. 2007
They are not doing the math. Doing the math would mean demonstrating that the voters' intuitive judgments are roughly what they would get if they analyzed the likely effects of candidates' policies, and this is a difficult calculation to perform. —Louis Menand, New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2004
Ms. Magazine's online daily weblog, written by Christine Cupaiuolo, analyzes the representation of women in media and popular culture. Here are excerpts from recent postings. —Ms., Fall 2003
The data was recorded and analyzed by computer.
We took the sample to be chemically analyzed by a lab.
Researchers are busy analyzing the results of the study.
The bacteria were analyzed under a powerful microscope.

Recent Examples of analyze from the Web

ARSA attacked at least two dozen police posts, and satellite imagery analyzed by Human Rights Watch indicates homes were set ablaze as well, in an area about five times larger than what was burned in 2016.

— Washington Post, "AP Explains: A look at the insurgency behind Myanmar attacks," 31 Aug. 2017
University of Virginia researcher Christopher Ruhm analyzed death certificates from 2016 and 2017, looking for overdose deaths in which the drug that caused the death was not specified.

— andy marso, kansascity, "Opioid overdose deaths under-reported in Missouri and Kansas, study says," 21 Aug. 2017
Analyzing proteins within a fossil requires destroying a piece of the specimen, something unthinkable for precious ancient hominin remains.

— gemma tarlach, Discover Magazine, "Proteomics: Moving Beyond DNA to Study the Past," 15 Aug. 2017
In an attempt to settle the debate, Søren Brunak, a bioinformatician at the Technical University of Denmark in Kongens Lyngby,and colleagues analyzed more than 15 million scientific articles published in English from 1823 to 2016.

— lindsay mckenzie, Science | AAAS, "Want to analyze millions of scientific papers all at once? Here’s the best way to do it," 21 July 2017
Howell said part of the process is analyzing the metal to find the original color and duplicating it.

— william thornton, AL.com, "Robinson Iron has worldwide reputation - cast in iron," 20 July 2017
French Hand Laundry analyzes and tests items and their dyes individually, then soaks them in softened water using pure soaps.

— marielle wakim, Los Angeles Magazine, "Best of LA: 92 of Our Favorite Things to Eat, Do, and Buy Right Now," 14 July 2017
Most of those discoveries came from analyzing data collected by multiple telescopes over a period of several years.

— avery thompson, Popular Mechanics, "You Can Now Hunt for Real Exoplanets in EVE Online," 13 July 2017
For McElroy, his role as an analyst on the SEC Network represents an unique balancing act between promoting the league and offering legitimate critiques of the teams he is paid to analyze.

— jon hale, The Courier-Journal, "Mark Stoops, UK players respond to Greg McElroy's criticism of Matt Elam," 12 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'analyze.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of analyze

probably irregular from analysis

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1587

See Words from the same year

analyze Synonyms

Synonyms

anatomize, assay, break down, cut, deconstruct, dissect

Related Words

assess, diagnose, evaluate, examine, inspect, investigate, scrutinize; arrange, assort, catalog (or catalogue), categorize, classify, codify, diagram, enumerate, index, order, schematize, sort, tabulate; divide, reduce, segment, separate, subdivide

Near Antonyms

agglomerate, aggregate, amalgamate, assimilate, coalesce, conglomerate, consolidate, integrate, synthesize, unify

Synonym Discussion of analyze

analyze, dissect, break down mean to divide a complex whole into its parts or elements. analyze suggests separating or distinguishing the component parts of something (such as a substance, a process, a situation) so as to discover its true nature or inner relationships.

- analyzed the collected data

dissect suggests a searching analysis by laying bare parts or pieces for individual scrutiny.

- commentators dissected every word of the speech

break down implies a reducing to simpler parts or divisions.

- break down the budget

ANALYZE Defined for English Language Learners

analyze

play

verb

Definition of analyze for English Language Learners

: to study (something) closely and carefully : to learn the nature and relationship of the parts of (something) by a close and careful examination
: to study the emotions and thoughts of (someone) by using psychoanalysis