adj. & n.
adj. 1 made by chemical synthesis, esp. to imitate a natural product (synthetic rubber). 2 (of emotions etc.) affected, insincere. 3 Logic (of a proposition) having truth or falsity determinable by recourse to experience (cf. ANALYTIC 3). 4 Philol. using combinations of simple words or elements in compounded or complex words (cf. ANALYTICAL).
n. Chem. a synthetic substance. synthetic resin Chem. see RESIN n. 2. synthetical adj. synthetically adv.
[ F synthétique or mod.L syntheticus f. Gk sunthetikos f. sunthetos f. suntithemi (as SYN-, tithemi put) ]