analyze

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Probably a back-formation from analysis,[1] or from Middle French analyser,[2] from analyse, from Medieval Latin analysis, from Ancient Greek ἀνάλυσις (análusis, “a breaking up, a loosening, releasing”), from ἀναλύω (analúō, “to unloose, release, set free”), from ἀνά (aná, “on, up, above, throughout”) λύσις (lúsis, “a loosening”), from λύω (lúō, “to unfasten”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To subject to analysis.
    • 1995, Madeleine R. Stoner, The Civil Rights of Homeless People, page 136:
      This section addresses the recent homeless backlash by reviewing and analyzing antihomeless legislation […]
    • 2007 June 12, “Misdirected Studies on Avandia”, in New York Times‎[1]:
      The clearest lesson is that the F.D.A. needs the power to demand adequate postmarketing studies and the resources to analyze the results.
    • 2015 August 12, Peng Du et al., “Enhanced Photovoltaic Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells by Efficient Near-Infrared Sunlight Harvesting using Upconverting Y2O3:Er3 /Yb3 Phosphor Nanoparticles”, in Nanoscale Research Letters‎[2], volume 10, →DOI:
      The phase structure of the fabricated nanophosphor samples was analyzed by using an X-ray diffractometer (XRD; Mac Science, M18XHF-SRA) with Cu Kα ( λ  = 1.5402 Å) radiation, and the JADE software was applied to analyze the XRD data.
    • 2019 August 6, Malia Wollan, “How to Tell Gunfire From Fireworks”, in The New York Times Magazine‎[3]:
      When sensors record a gunlike noise in, say, Cape Town or Chicago, software analyzes it for the sonic signatures of gunfire, and within seconds Beisner and his team listen to those audio files and look at those recorded waveforms at their office in Newark, Calif.
  2. (transitive) To resolve (anything complex) into its elements.
    analyze a problem
  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

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  • 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

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References

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  1. ^ “analyse | analyze, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  2. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “analyze (v.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
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