syntax

[ sin-taks ]
See synonyms for syntax on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Rarely syntaxis .Linguistics.

    • the study of the rules and patterns by which sentences and phrases are formed in a language.

    • the rules or patterns so studied: Some people find English syntax hard to master.

    • a presentation of these rules or patterns: His syntax of German is famous in the field.

    • an instance of these rules or patterns: The syntax of that sentence is odd.

  2. Computers. the grammatical rules and structural patterns governing the ordered use of appropriate words and symbols for issuing commands, writing code, etc., in a particular software application or programming language.

  1. Logic.

    • the branch of modern logic that studies the various kinds of signs that occur in a system and the possible arrangements of those signs, without reference to their meaning.

    • the outcome of such a study when directed upon a specified language.

  2. a system or orderly arrangement.

Origin of syntax

1
First recorded in 1565–75; short for earlier syntaxis

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for syntax

syntax

/ (ˈsɪntæks) /


noun
  1. the branch of linguistics that deals with the grammatical arrangement of words and morphemes in the sentences of a language or of languages in general

  2. the totality of facts about the grammatical arrangement of words in a language

  1. a systematic statement of the rules governing the grammatical arrangement of words and morphemes in a language

  2. logic a systematic statement of the rules governing the properly formed formulas of a logical system

  3. any orderly arrangement or system

Origin of syntax

1
C17: from Late Latin syntaxis, from Greek suntaxis, from suntassein to put in order, from syn- + tassein to arrange

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for syntax

syntax

The sequence in which words are put together to form sentences. In English, the usual sequence is subject, verb, and object.

Notes for syntax

Syntactic languages, such as English, use word order to indicate word relationships. Inflected languages (see inflection), such as Greek and Latin, use word endings and other inflections to indicate relationships.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.