analyze

English

Alternative forms

• analyse (British Commonwealth except Canada)

Etymology

Back formation from analysis, from French analyser, from analyse, from Medieval Latin analysis, from Ancient Greek ἀνάλυσις (analusis, “a breaking up, a loosening, releasing”), from ἀναλύω (analuō, “to unloose, release, set free”), from ἀνά (ana, “on, up, above, throughout”) + λύσις (lusis, “a loosening”), from λύω (luō, “to unfasten”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈæn.ə.laɪz/
• Rhymes: -aɪz

• Audio (US)

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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, both analyze and the British analyse are equally indefensible spellings. The correct but now impossible form should have been analysize.

Derived terms

• analyzable
• analyzability
• analyzer
• psychoanalyze

Translations

analyse — see analyse