syntactic

S1Y4N1T1A1C3T1I1C3
/sɪnˈtæktɪk/

adjective

Of, related to or connected with syntax.

“The sentence “I saw he” contains a syntactic mistake.”

Less commonScrabble 16

Meanings

adjectivesyntactic (comparative more syntactic, superlative most syntactic)

comparative more syntactic · superlative most syntactic

  1. Of, related to or connected with syntax.

    The sentence “I saw he” contains a syntactic mistake.

    2 more examples

    the rules specifying how agglutinative morphemes are combined with each other are more syntactic than morphological by their nature and thus are closer to rules specifying how word-forms are combined with each other.

    2001, Martin Haspelmath, Language Typology and Language Universals: An International Handbook, page 674

    Sometimes, a preposition like of just marks the function from a noun, as in the picture of the dog. Here, the function is picture, and of is a purely syntactic marker of the argument of picture, the dog. In this case, there is no semantics for the preposition of.

    2025, Edward A. F. Gibson, “Dependency Grammar” (chapter 3), in Syntax: A Cognitive Approach, MIT Press, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 68–69

    Synonyms: syntactical

  2. Containing morphemes that are combined in the same order as they would be if they were separate words e.g. greenfinch

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveOf, related to or connected with syntax.

More synonyms by meaning

adjectiveof or relating to or conforming to the rules of syntax

Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekσυντακτικός
  2. New Latinsyntacticus
  3. Englishsyntactic

From New Latin syntacticus, from Ancient Greek συντακτικός (suntaktikós).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian синтакти́чен
  • синтакти́чен (sintaktíčen)of, related to or connected with syntax
Catalan sintàctic
  • sintàcticof, related to or connected with syntax
Czech syntaktický
  • syntaktickýof, related to or connected with syntax
Danish syntaktisk
  • syntaktiskof, related to or connected with syntax
Dutch syntactisch
  • syntactischof, related to or connected with syntax
Esperanto sintaksa
  • sintaksaof, related to or connected with syntax
Finnish syntaktinen, lauseopillinen
  • syntaktinenof, related to or connected with syntax
  • lauseopillinenof, related to or connected with syntax
French syntaxique, syntactique
  • syntaxiqueof, related to or connected with syntax
  • syntactiqueof, related to or connected with syntax
German syntaktisch
  • syntaktischof, related to or connected with syntax
Greek συντακτικός
  • συντακτικός (syntaktikós)of, related to or connected with syntax
Hungarian szintaktikai
  • szintaktikaiof, related to or connected with syntax
Irish comhréireach
  • comhréireachof, related to or connected with syntax
Italian sintattico
  • sintatticoof, related to or connected with syntax
Japanese 統語的な
  • 統語的な (tōgoteki na)of, related to or connected with syntax
Norwegian Bokmål syntaktisk
  • syntaktiskof, related to or connected with syntax
Polish syntaktyczny, składniowy
  • syntaktycznyof, related to or connected with syntax
  • składniowyof, related to or connected with syntax
Portuguese sintático
  • sintáticoof, related to or connected with syntax
Romanian sintactic
  • sintacticof, related to or connected with syntax
Russian синтакси́ческий
  • синтакси́ческий (sintaksíčeskij)of, related to or connected with syntax
Slovak syntaktický
  • syntaktickýof, related to or connected with syntax
Spanish sintáctico
  • sintácticoof, related to or connected with syntax
Swedish syntaktisk
  • syntaktiskof, related to or connected with syntax
Tagalog palaugnayin
  • palaugnayinof, related to or connected with syntax
Turkish sözdizimsel
  • sözdizimselof, related to or connected with syntax
Ukrainian синтакси́чний
  • синтакси́чний (syntaksýčnyj)of, related to or connected with syntax

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with syntactic

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

syntactic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/syntactic

MLA

“syntactic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/syntactic. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “syntactic,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/syntactic.

Source: syntactic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.