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Each person is an idiom unto himself, an apparent violation of the syntax of the species.
Gordon W. Allport

Meaning of "syntax" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD SYNTAX

From Late Latin syntaxis, from Greek suntaxis, from suntassein to put in order, from syn- + tassein to arrange.
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Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.
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PRONUNCIATION OF SYNTAX

syntax  [ˈsɪntæks] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF SYNTAX

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Syntax is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES SYNTAX MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Syntax

In linguistics, syntax is "the study of the principles and processes by which sentences are constructed in particular languages." In addition to referring to the discipline, the term syntax is also used to refer directly to the rules and principles that govern the sentence structure of any individual language. Modern research in syntax attempts to describe languages in terms of such rules. Many professionals in this discipline attempt to find general rules that apply to all natural languages. The term syntax is also used to refer to the rules governing the behavior of mathematical systems, such as formal languages used in logic.

Definition of syntax in the English dictionary

The first definition of syntax in the dictionary is 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. Other definition of syntax is the totality of facts about the grammatical arrangement of words in a language. Syntax is also a systematic statement of the rules governing the grammatical arrangement of words and morphemes in a language.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH SYNTAX


after-tax
ˈɑːftəˌtæks
before-tax
bɪˈfɔːˌtæks
eco-tax
ˈiːkəʊtæks
Eurotax
ˈjʊərəʊˌtæks
morphosyntax
ˌmɔːfəʊˈsɪntæks
nontax
ˈnɒnˌtæks
overtax
ˌəʊvəˈtæks
pre-tax
ˌpriːˈtæks
retax
ˌriːˈtæks
stacks
stæks
surtax
ˈsɜːˌtæks
tax
tæks

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE SYNTAX

syntactic
syntactical
syntactically
syntactics
syntagm
syntagma
syntagmata
syntagmatic
syntagmatite
syntagmic
syntan
syntectic
syntectical
syntenic
syntenoses
syntenosis
synteny
synteresis
syntexis
synth

WORDS THAT END LIKE SYNTAX

capital gains tax
carbon tax
council tax
death tax
departure tax
excise tax
green tax
income tax
inheritance tax
payroll tax
profits tax
property tax
purchase tax
road tax
sales tax
transfer tax
untax
value-added tax
wealth tax
withholding tax

Synonyms and antonyms of syntax in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «syntax» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF SYNTAX

Find out the translation of syntax to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of syntax from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «syntax» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

语法
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

sintaxis
570 millions of speakers

English

syntax
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

वाक्यविन्यास
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

في بناء الجملة
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

синтаксис
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

sintaxe
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

বাক্য গঠন
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

syntaxe
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Sintaks
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Syntax
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

構文
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

구문
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Sintaksis
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

cú pháp
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

தொடரியல்
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

मांडणी
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

sözdizimi
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

sintassi
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

Składnia
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

синтаксис
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

sintaxă
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

σύνταξη
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

sintaksis
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

syntaxen
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

syntaks
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of syntax

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «SYNTAX»

The term «syntax» is very widely used and occupies the 13.291 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Very widely used
94
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «syntax» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of syntax
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «syntax».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «SYNTAX» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «syntax» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «syntax» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about syntax

EXAMPLES

10 QUOTES WITH «SYNTAX»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word syntax.
1
Gordon W. Allport
Each person is an idiom unto himself, an apparent violation of the syntax of the species.
2
Jean M. Auel
And that's how I start myself. I usually go back a couple of pages, maybe to the beginning of the chapter, and I start reading. And as I'm reading, I'm tweaking - putting in a different word, changing the syntax, putting that clause over there, you know that sort of thing.
3
David Baker
What that book does for me is give me the tools in the same way that I had the tools when I learned the regular scales or the alphabet. If you give me the tools, the syntax, and the grammar, it still doesn't tell me how to write Ulysses.
4
Anne Carson
We're talking about the struggle to drag a thought over from the mush of the unconscious into some kind of grammar, syntax, human sense; every attempt means starting over with language. starting over with accuracy.
5
Bram Cohen
My favorite language for maintainability is Python. It has simple, clean syntax, object encapsulation, good library support, and optional named parameters.
6
Frantz Fanon
I ascribe a basic importance to the phenomenon of language. To speak means to be in a position to use a certain syntax, to grasp the morphology of this or that language, but it means above all to assume a culture, to support the weight of a civilization.
7
Marilyn Hacker
The ambiguities of language, both in terms of vocabulary and syntax, are fascinating: how important connotation is, what is lost and what is gained in the linguistic transition.
8
Marilyn Hacker
The pull between sound and syntax creates a kind of musical tension in the language that interests me.
9
Marilyn Hacker
When you translate poetry in particular, you're obliged to look at how the writer with whom you're working puts together words, sentences, phrases, the triple tension between the line of verse, the syntax and the sentence.
10
Eddie Huang
I want to prove you don't need to have academic syntax to be intelligent.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «SYNTAX»

Discover the use of syntax in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to syntax and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Syntax: An Introduction
This new edition of Syntax: A functional-typological introduction is at many points radically revised.
Talmy Givón, 2001
2
Aspects of the Theory of Syntax
At the same time, it has become apparent that these formulations can be extended and deepened.The major purpose of this book is to review these developments and to propose a reformulation of the theory of transformational generative grammar ...
Noam Chomsky, 1969
3
Syntax: A Generative Introduction
Unique among syntax texts, this book also contains short chapters on both HPSG and LFG. Syntax succeeds in strengthening the foundational knowledge of its readers, preparing them for more advanced study.
Andrew Carnie, 2013
4
Modern Syntax: A Coursebook
Students using this book will learn fundamentals in such a way that they can easily go on to pursue further study in any of these frameworks.
Andrew Carnie, 2011
5
Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose
Whether you’re writing to sell, shock, or just sing, Sin and Syntax is the guide you need to improve your command of the English language.
Constance Hale, 2001
6
English Syntax
An authoritative, self-contained introduction to the subject for students who have had no prior coursework in syntactic theory.
Carl Lee Baker, 1995
7
Syntax: Structure, Meaning, and Function
An introduction to syntactic theory and analysis.
Robert D. VAN VALIN (jr.), 1997
8
Analyzing Syntax: A Lexical-Functional Approach
A comprehensive and accessible 2004 textbook on syntactic analysis, working within the 'Lexical Functional Grammar' framework.
Paul Kroeger, 2004
9
Syntax: A Linguistic Introduction to Sentence Structure
This book is unique in several respects: it introduces the basic concepts used in the description of syntax, independently of any single model of grammar.
E. K. Brown, Keith Brown, Jim Miller, 1991
10
An Introduction to Syntax
The book guides students through the basic concepts involved in syntactic analysis and goes on to prepare them for further work in any syntactic theory, using examples from a range of phenomena in human languages.
Robert D. Van Valin, 2001

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «SYNTAX»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term syntax is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Syntax Proper in Kent Stakes Win at Delaware
Making the first stakes start of his career, Syntax took command in the stretch and held off Money Multiplier's closing run to register a half-length victory in the ... «BloodHorse.com, Jul 15»
2
SYNTAX Analysis Disputes 'Smoker's Paradox'
The findings, published in the March 24, 2015, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, come from an analysis of the SYNTAX trial that took ... «TCTMD, Mar 15»
3
Is this the secret grave of Doctor Syntax, one of the most famous …
Doctor Syntax was the Phar Lap of his day, winning 36 races between 1814 to 1823 (Phar Lap won 37). Born in Yorkshire in 1811, the much-loved stallion won ... «NEWS.com.au, Dec 14»
4
Could mystery horse skeleton be legendary 18th century racehorse …
"A member of the public told us he had read that Doctor Syntax was buried at Newmarket Palace House stables,” said Curator Graham Snelling at the National ... «Telegraph.co.uk, Dec 14»
5
KIND Finds Healthy ERP Solution With Syntax and Oracle JD Edwards
After evaluating more than a dozen different solutions, KIND selected Oracle's JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 9.1 and Syntax's CPG-based preconfigured business ... «Marketwired, Dec 14»
6
BBEdit on Your Mac: Trick Text Files into HTML Syntax Coloring
BBEdit, by Bare Bones Software, is an excellent text editor for the Mac. Anyone who uses it knows that pure text files do not normally have syntax coloring. But for ... «The Mac Observer, Nov 14»
7
AngularJS 2.0 Details Emerge
This new template syntax is a relatively small change compared to the upheaval caused by the new architecture. Attendee Michael Bromley described some of ... «InfoQ.com, Oct 14»
8
Syntax Highlighting and IntelliSense support for CMake
If the code being compiled has syntax errors, the compiler will produce the appropriate error messages and go no further. IntelliSense, on the other hand, must ... «InfoQ.com, Oct 14»
9
Pardon The Reality: Give us the straight dope, not 'Syntax'
One would expect Syntax to review key statements and written materials before they're released to the public, and to guide K-L both in avoiding needless ... «Lewisboro Ledger, Aug 14»
10
​Turbo Editor Is a Powerful File Editor With Syntax Highlighting
Android: You might not think about coding from your phone, but that could just be because you haven't yet found the right app. Turbo Editor is a free file editor for ... «Lifehacker, Aug 14»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Syntax [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/syntax>. Jun 2026 ».
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