syntactic

[ sin-tak-tik ]

adjective

1. of or relating to syntax:

   syntactic errors in English;

   the syntactic rules for computer source code.

2. consisting of or noting morphemes that are combined in the same order as they would be if they were separate words in a corresponding construction:

   The word blackberry, which consists of an adjective followed by a noun, is a syntactic compound.

Other Words From

• syn·tacti·cal·ly adverb
• nonsyn·tactic adjective
• nonsyn·tacti·cal adjective
• nonsyn·tacti·cal·ly adverb
• unsyn·tactic adjective
• unsyn·tacti·cal adjective
• unsyn·tacti·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of syntactic¹

1570–80; < New Latin syntacticus < Greek syntaktikós, equivalent to syntakt ( ós ) ordered, arranged together, verbid of syntássein to arrange together ( syn- syn- + tag-, base of tássein to arrange + -tos adj. suffix) + -ikos -ic; tactic

Example Sentences

As oxymorons go, it’s the operatic equivalent to Noam Chomsky’s famous syntactic puzzle “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.”

From New York Times

The lyrics, written by the still-anonymous Ghostwriter, are sophomoric, and the delivery inorganic, with paint-by-numbers metaphors and misogyny that veers away from the syntactic detail that gives both artists’ songs their uniquely incisive texture.

From Washington Post

We talked about all sorts of things, and he loved it when I enthused about a simile or some syntactic tour de force.

From Washington Post

And they agree that complex, conditional, coherent, syntactic, if-this-then-that language, with a plan B and a plan C, would have required a big brain.

From New York Times

There is a deep hunger that Sondheim satisfies, for intelligence and syntactic rigor in a form that in lesser hands comes across as pat and lazy.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• linguistic
• semantic