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Webster 1828 Edition


Analyze

AN'ALYZE

,
Verb.
T.
[Gr. See Analysis.]
To resolve a body into its elements; to separate a compound subject into its parts or propositions, for the purpose of an examination of each separately; as, to analyze a fossil substance; to analyze an action to ascertain its morality.

Definition 2024


analyze

analyze

English

Alternative forms

  • analyse (Commonwealth except Canada)

Verb

analyze (third-person singular simple present analyzes, present participle analyzing, simple past and past participle analyzed)

  1. (transitive) To subject to analysis.
  2. (transitive) To resolve (anything complex) into its elements.
  3. (transitive) To separate into the constituent parts, for the purpose of an examination of each separately.
  4. (transitive) To examine in such a manner as to ascertain the elements or nature of the thing examined; as, to analyze a fossil substance, to analyze a sentence or a word, or to analyze an action to ascertain its morality.

Usage notes

  • According to the third edition of Fowler's Modern English Usage, both analyze and the British spelling analyse are equally indefensible from an etymological perspective. The correct but now impossible form should have been analysize.

Derived terms

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Translations