synthetic

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Relating to, involving, or of the nature of synthesis.
2. adj. Chemistry Produced by synthesis, especially not of natural origin.
3. adj. Not natural or genuine; artificial or contrived: "counterfeit rhetoric that flourishes when passions are synthetic” ( George F. Will).
4. adj. Prepared or made artificially: synthetic leather. See Synonyms at artificial.
5. adj. Linguistics Relating to or being a language, such as Latin or Russian, that uses inflectional affixes to express syntactic relationships.
6. adj. Logic & Philosophy Relating to or being a proposition that attributes to a subject a predicate not inherent in the subject and that does not result in a contradiction if negated.
7. n. A synthetic chemical compound or material.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Of or pertaining to synthesis; consisting in synthesis: as, the synthetic method of reasoning, as opposed to the analytical.
2. In grammar, characterized by synthesis, or the combination of radical and formative elements into one word, as distinguished from their maintenance in separate words, which is analytic. Thus, man's is synthetic, of man is analytic; higher is synthetic, more high is analytic; loved is synthetic, did love is analytic; and so amabitur (Latin) and will be loved. The epithet is used both of single formations, like these, and of classes of expressions; also of a whole language, or a period or class of languages, according as expressions of one or of the other class prevail in each case.
3. In biology, of a general or comprehensive type of structure; combining in one organism characters which are to be specialized in several different organisms in the course of evolution; generalized, not specialized; undifferentiated. Thus, the Symphyla are a synthetic type, as combining characters of the classes Myriapoda and Hexapoda. Since the general course of evolution is from generals to particulars, or from generalization to specialization, synthetic forms are mostly low or primitive, and less fully illustrated by recent or living than by early and extinct organisms. Most fossil types are synthetic in comparison with existent forms of which they are ancestral.
4. In chem., noting a substance made by artificial means, in the laboratory, in contradistinction to one produced without human agency, as in vegetables and animals. Thus indigo is produced from certain plants and may also be made artificially, or synthetically, from naphthalene.
5. In pictorial composition, noting an arrangement which tells a story or explains a situation.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Of, or relating to synthesis.
2. adj. chemistry Produced by synthesis instead of being isolated from a natural source (but may be identical to a product so obtained).
3. adj. Artificial, not genuine.
4. adj. grammar Pertaining to the joining of bound morphemes in a word. Compare analytic.
5. n. A synthetic compound.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Of or pertaining to synthesis; consisting in synthesis or composition.
2. adj. (Chem.) Artificial. Cf. Synthesis, 2.
3. adj. (Zoöl.) Comprising within itself structural or other characters which are usually found only in two or more diverse groups; -- said of species, genera, and higher groups. See the Note under Comprehensive, 3.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. systematic combining of root and modifying elements into single words
2. adj. artificial as if portrayed in a film
3. adj. not of natural origin; prepared or made artificially
4. adj. involving or of the nature of synthesis (combining separate elements to form a coherent whole) as opposed to analysis
5. adj. of a proposition whose truth value is determined by observation or facts
6. adj. not genuine or natural
7. n. a compound made artificially by chemical reactions