system

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See also: System and systém

English

WOTD – 9 May 2019

Etymology

The solar system (sense 1)
Musical notation indicating a system (sense 1.4), which consists of a treble staff (top) and a bass staff linked by a brace (left)
The human digestive system (sense 1.5)
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From Middle French sisteme, systeme (modern French système (“system”)), or directly from its etymon Late Latin systēma (“harmony; musical scale; set of celestial objects; set of troops; system”), from Ancient Greek σύστημα (sústēma, “musical scale; organized body; whole made of several parts or members”), from σῠν- (sun-, prefix meaning ‘with, together’) + ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to stand”) (from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”)) + -μᾰ (-ma, suffix forming neuter nouns denoting the result of, a particular instance of, or the object of an action). The English word is cognate with Dutch systema, German System, Italian sistema, Portuguese sistema, Spanish sistema.[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

system (plural systems)

  1. A collection of organized things; a whole composed of relationships among its members. [from early 17th c.]
    Synonyms: arrangement, complex, composition, organization, set up, structure
    There are eight planets in the solar system.
    • [1848], J[ames] A[lexander] Hamilton, “Stave”, in A New Musical Grammar, in Three Parts: viz. Notation; Harmony and Counterpoint; Rhythm or Melody, 4th edition, London: Published only by Robert Cocks and Co. […]; sold also by Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. […], →OCLC, part I (Notation), page 23:
      The bass and treble clefs combined, include all the sounds belonging to our musical system, as they appear on a 6½-octave pianoforte, extending from C C C in the bass to F in altissimo.
    • 2013 May–June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease: The Great Morbidity of the 21st Century”, in American Scientist‎[1], volume 101, number 3, archived from the original on 24 April 2013, page 200:
      Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.
    1. (derogatory) Preceded by the word the: the mainstream culture, controlled by the elites or government of a state, or a combination of them, seen as oppressive to the individual.
      • 1986, Madonna, Stephen Bray, Patrick Leonard (lyrics and music), “Where's the Party”, in True Blue, performed by Madonna:
        Don't want to grow old too fast / Don't want to let the system get me down / I've got to find a way to make the good times last / And if you'll show me how, I'm ready now
    2. (computing) A set of hardware and software operating in a computer.
      • 2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America‎[2], archived from the original on 7 February 2019:
        WIPO [the World Intellectual Property Organization] reported that China had 17 of the top 20 academic organizations filing for AI-related patents. It noted China was especially strong in the fast-growing area of "deep learning." This is a machine learning method that includes speech and facial recognition systems.
    3. (mathematics) A set of equations involving the same variables, which are to be solved simultaneously.
      • 2017, Ken Levasseur, Al Doerr, “More Matrix Algebra”, in Applied Discrete Structures – Part 2: Algebraic Structures: Version 3.3, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu.com, →ISBN, section 12.1.1 (Solutions), page 59:
        The method of solving systems of equations by matrices that we will look at is based on procedures involving equations that we are familiar with from previous mathematics courses. The main idea is to reduce a given system of equations to another simpler system that has the same solutions.
    4. (music) A set of staves linked by a brace that indicate instruments or sounds that are to be played simultaneously.
      • 2015, Meinhard Müller, “Music Representations”, in Fundamentals of Music Processing: Audio, Analysis, Algorithms, Applications, Cham, Switzerland, Heidelberg: Springer International Publishing, →DOI, →ISBN, section 1.1.2 (Western Music Notation), page 8:
        To notate music that is played on a piano or is played by different musicians on various instruments, one often uses several staves to notate the various musical voices. A single vertical line drawn to the left of multiple staves creates a staff system, which indicates that the music on all staves is to be played simultaneously. A bracket is an additional vertically aligned symbol joining staves. This symbol shows groupings of instruments that function as a unit, such as the string section of an orchestra […].
    5. (physiology) A set of body organs having a particular function.
      the digestive system  the nervous system
      • 1995, Terence J. Dawson, “Living in the Environment – Feeding”, in Kangaroos: Biology of the Largest Marsupials, Ithaca, N.Y.: Comstock Publishing Associates, Cornell University Press, published 1998, →ISBN, page 102:
        Animals have evolved a variety of digestive systems to utilise fibre. The kangaroos have evolved a digestive system that has much in common with those found in ruminant mammals from other continents, but there are also unique features.
    6. (psychiatry) A set of alters, or the multiple (“the individual with multiple personalities due to, for example, a dissociative personality disorder”) who contains them.
      • 1995, Stephen E. Braude, First Person Plural: Multiple Personality and the Philosophy of Mind, revised edition, Lanham, Md., London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, page 56:
        But that alter often turns out to be relatively recent and fairly peripheral in the multiple's total system of alters.
      • 2017, “A New Therapist”, in Patricia Frankish and Valerie Sinason, editors, Holistic Therapy for People with Dissociative Identity Disorder, London: Karnac Books, →ISBN, page 79:
        Rosie's courage allowed her to engage with me quickly and soon provided reassurance to others in the system that I was safe and non-abusive. Soon after, a number of other alters made themselves known to me. […] I was initially very worried that I would offend the system by missing when switches occurred, or even misidentify who was present with me.
  2. A method or way of organizing or planning.
    Many people believed communism was a good system until the breakup of the Soviet Union.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, “In which Fortune Seems to have been in a Better Humour with Jones than We have hitherto Seen Her”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume IV, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VIII, page 253:
      But ſo Matters fell out, and ſo I muſt relate them; and if any Reader is ſhocked at their appearing unnatural, I cannot help it. I must remind ſuch Persons, that I am not writing a Syſtem, but a Hiſtory, and I am not obliged to reconcile every Matter to the received Notions concerning Truth and Nature.
    • 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC, pages 13–14:
      As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could.
    • 2012 March–April, John T[homas] Jost, “Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?”, in American Scientist‎[3], volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 21 June 2017, page 162:
      He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record. With this biological framework in place, [Peter] Corning endeavors to show that the capitalist system as currently practiced in the United States and elsewhere is manifestly unfair.

Usage notes

In attributive use, especially relating to computer systems, the plural is more common than the singular; one normally speaks of a systems engineer and not a system engineer.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

(physiology) set of body organs having a particular function

See also

References

  1. ^ “system, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2015; “system”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

Anagrams

Danish

Etymology

From late Latin systēma, from Ancient Greek σύστημα (sústēma, “organised whole, body”), from σύν (sún, “with, together”) + ἵστημι (hístēmi, “I stand”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /systeːm/, [syˈsd̥eːˀm]

Noun

system n (singular definite systemet, plural indefinite systemer)

  1. system

Declension

Declension of system
neuter
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative system systemet systemer systemerne
genitive systems systemets systemers systemernes

See also

References

French

Etymology

From English system

Pronunciation

Noun

system m (plural systems)

  1. Word used in star system.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σύστημα (sústēma)

Noun

system n (definite singular systemet, indefinite plural system or systemer, definite plural systema or systemene)

  1. a system

Derived terms

Terms derived from system

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σύστημα (sústēma)

Noun

system n (definite singular systemet, indefinite plural system, definite plural systema)

  1. a system

Derived terms

Terms derived from system

References

Polish

Pronunciation

Noun

system m inan

  1. system

Declension

Declension of system
singular plural
nominative system systemy
genitive systemu systemów
dative systemowi systemom
accusative system systemy
instrumental systemem systemami
locative systemie systemach
vocative systemie systemy

Further reading

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

system n

  1. a system, a way or method of organizing items and knowledge
  2. a computer system (primarily its hardware)
  3. a system of restricted sales of alcohol, including state-owned monopoly shops

Declension

Declension of system 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative system systemet system systemen
Genitive systems systemets systems systemens

Derived terms

References

Anagrams

Welsh

Noun

system f (plural systemau, not mutable)

  1. system, method

Related terms

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