[anal.y.sis] n, pl -y.ses [NL, fr. Gk, fr. analyein to break up, fr. ana- + lyein to loosen--more at lose] (1581) 1: separation of a whole into its component parts
2. a: the identification or separation of ingredients of a substance b: a statement of the constituents of a mixture 3 a: proof of a mathematical proposition by assuming the result and deducing a valid statement by a series of reversible steps b (1): a branch of mathematics concerned mainly with functions and limits (2): calculus 1b
4. a: an examination of a complex, its elements, and their relations b: a statement of such an analysis
5. a: a method in philosophy of resolving complex expressions into simpler or more basic ones b: clarification of an expression by an elucidation of its use in discourse
6: the use of function words instead of inflectional forms as a characteristic device of a language 7: psychoanalysis