syntactic

adjective

syn·​tac·​tic sin-ˈtak-tik How to pronounce syntactic (audio)
variants or syntactical
sin-ˈtak-ti-kəl How to pronounce syntactic (audio)
: of, relating to, or according to the rules of syntax or syntactics
syntactically
sin-ˈtak-ti-k(ə-)lē How to pronounce syntactic (audio)
adverb

Examples of syntactic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Instead of just matching common phrases, syntactic SMT breaks up a phrase into individual words and then maps each word over to the other language. — Theresa Chong, IEEE Spectrum, 22 Aug. 2014 Researchers have found that deeper transformer layers capture more complex concepts, while earlier layers focus on syntactic relationships. — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 12 Mar. 2025 The o1 model correctly produced two different syntactic trees, one that corresponds to the first interpretation of the sentence and one that corresponds to the latter. — Steve Nadis, Quanta Magazine, 31 Oct. 2025 In the study, applicants whose answers scored higher on vocabulary richness and syntactic complexity were significantly more likely to receive offers. — Caroline Castrillon, Forbes.com, 22 May 2026 See All Example Sentences for syntactic

Word History

Etymology

New Latin syntacticus, from Greek syntaktikos arranging together, from syntassein

First Known Use

1577, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of syntactic was in 1577

Rhymes for syntactic

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Browse Nearby Words

synsepalous
syntactic
syntactic construction
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Cite this Entry

“Syntactic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syntactic. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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Kids Definition

syntactic

adjective
syn·​tac·​tic sin-ˈtak-tik How to pronounce syntactic (audio)
variants or syntactical
-ti-kəl How to pronounce syntactic (audio)
: of, relating to, or according to the rules of syntax
syntactically
-ti-k(ə-)lē How to pronounce syntactic (audio)
adverb

Medical Definition

syntactic

adjective
syn·​tac·​tic sin-ˈtak-tik How to pronounce syntactic (audio)
variants or syntactical
-ti-kəl How to pronounce syntactic (audio)
: of or relating to syntactics
syntactically
-ti-k(ə-)lē How to pronounce syntactic (audio)
adverb

More from Merriam-Webster on syntactic

Nglish: Translation of syntactic for Spanish Speakers

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