systematic

• systematick (obsolete)

Borrowed from Late Latin systēmaticus, from Koine Greek συστηματικός (sustēmatikós), from σύστημᾰ (sústēmă, “a composite; system”) +‎ -ῐκός (-ĭkós, adjective suffix). Cognate with French systématique and Italian sistematico. By surface analysis, system +‎ -atic.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌsɪs.tɪˈmæt.ɪk/, /ˌsɪs.təˈmæt.ɪk/
• (General American, Canada, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌsɪs.təˈmæt.ɪk/,

  • Audio (Southern California, ):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ætɪk
• Hyphenation: sys‧te‧mat‧ic

systematic (comparative more systematic, superlative most systematic)

1. Carried out according to a planned, ordered procedure.
2. (by extension) Methodical; regular and orderly.

   Antonyms: chaotic, haphazard

   • 2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 9:26 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron‎, archived from the original on 29 November 2024:

     Particular note, in this period, should be made of the actions of Joseph Denman, commander of the Northern Division of the Squadron, who went on an absolutely ruthless and systematic campaign along the African coast, burning so-called "slaving factories" to the ground and openly daring anyone who objected to try and stop him.

3. Treating an object as a system or coherent whole.

   the systematic study of religious beliefs

4. (taxonomy) Of or relating to taxonomic classification.
5. (chemistry) Of, relating to, or in accordance with generally recognized conventions for the naming of chemicals.
6. (archaic or academic) Of, relating to, or being a system.
   • 1878 January, “A French Critic on Goethe”, in The Quarterly Review, volume 145, number 289, page 145:

     But the systematic judgment is altogether unprofitable. Its author has not really his eye upon the professed object of his criticism at all, but upon something else, which he wants to prove by means of that object. As it is, all that he tells us is that he is no genuine critic, but a man with a system, an advocate.

   • 1968, William J. Bouwsma, Venice and the Defense of Republican Liberty: Renaissance Values in the Age of Counter Reformation, page 219:

     And Paruta’s work also suggests that Venetians in the generation following the battle of Lepanto, although without altogether abandoning systematic views, were tending increasingly to look to history for their understanding of human affairs.

• (antonym(s) of “general”): asystematic, nonsystematic, unsystematic

systematic (comparative more systematic, superlative most systematic)

1. (colloquial) systematically
   • 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann:

     "So soon as they've settled all our guns and ships, and smashed our railways, and done all the things they are doing over there, they will begin catching us systematic, picking the best and storing us in cages and things."

   • 2019, Sewell Ford, Torchy and Vee‎:

     And say, when them Gogs started out to put a thing through they did it systematic and thorough.