system

The solar system (sense 1.7)

Musical notation indicating a system (sense 1.4), which consists of a treble staff (top) and a bass staff linked by a brace (left)

The human digestive system (sense 1.5)

Partly borrowed from Middle French sisteme, systeme, partly directly from its etymon Late Latin systēma (“harmony; musical scale; set of celestial objects; set of troops; system”), from Ancient Greek σύστημα (sústēma, “musical scale; organized body; whole made of several parts or members”), from σῠνίστημῐ (sunístēmi, “to combine, organize”) + -μᾰ (-ma, resultative suffix). σῠνίστημῐ is from σῠν- (sun-, “with, together”) + ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to stand”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”).[1]

Cognate with Dutch systeem, modern French système, German System, Italian sistema, Portuguese sistema, Spanish sistema. Doublet of systema.

• enPR: sĭsʹtəm, IPA^(key): /ˈsɪstəm/

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -ɪstəm
• Hyphenation: sys‧tem

system (plural systems)

1. A collection of organized things; a whole composed of relationships among its members. [from early 17th c.]

   Synonyms: arrangement, complex, composition, organization, set up, structure

   • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 112:

     Every age has its characteristic, and our present one is not behind its predecessors in that respect; it is the age of systems, every system enforced by a treatise. The politician who opposes the corn-laws and advocates free trade, does so on a system, which, as soon as it begins to work, will set the civilized world to rights.

   • [1848], J[ames] A[lexander] Hamilton, “Stave”, in A New Musical Grammar, in Three Parts: viz. Notation; Harmony and Counterpoint; Rhythm or Melody, 4th edition, London: Published only by Robert Cocks and Co. […]; sold also by Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. […], →OCLC, part I (Notation), page 23:

     The bass and treble clefs combined, include all the sounds belonging to our musical system, as they appear on a 6½-octave pianoforte, extending from C C C in the bass to F in altissimo.

   • 2013 May–June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease: The Great Morbidity of the 21st Century”, in American Scientist‎, volume 101, number 3, archived from the original on 24 April 2013, page 200:

     Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.

   1. (derogatory) Preceded by the word the: the mainstream culture, controlled by the elites or government of a state, or a combination of them, seen as oppressive to the individual.
      • 1919, Vance Marshall, Jail From Within, page 20:

        Some had already been incarcerated for several months awaiting trial, and some were being returned to their cells at Long Bay to wait several months longer ere they would have an` opportunity of disproving the allegations against them. Such mockery of justice is allowed by the all-powerful "system".

      • 1986, Madonna, Stephen Bray, Patrick Leonard (lyrics and music), “Where's the Party”, in True Blue, performed by Madonna:

        Don't want to grow old too fast / Don't want to let the system get me down / I've got to find a way to make the good times last / And if you'll show me how, I'm ready now

   2. (computing) A set of hardware and software operating in a computer.
      • 2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America‎, archived from the original on 7 February 2019:

        WIPO [the World Intellectual Property Organization] reported that China had 17 of the top 20 academic organizations filing for AI-related patents. It noted China was especially strong in the fast-growing area of "deep learning." This is a machine learning method that includes speech and facial recognition systems.

   3. (mathematics) A set of equations involving the same variables, which are to be solved simultaneously.
      • 2017, Ken Levasseur, Al Doerr, “More Matrix Algebra”, in Applied Discrete Structures – Part 2: Algebraic Structures: Version 3.3, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu.com, →ISBN, section 12.1.1 (Solutions), page 59:

        The method of solving systems of equations by matrices that we will look at is based on procedures involving equations that we are familiar with from previous mathematics courses. The main idea is to reduce a given system of equations to another simpler system that has the same solutions.

   4. (music) A set of staves linked by a brace that indicate instruments or sounds that are to be played simultaneously.
      • 2015, Meinhard Müller, “Music Representations”, in Fundamentals of Music Processing: Audio, Analysis, Algorithms, Applications, Cham, Switzerland, Heidelberg: Springer International Publishing, →DOI, →ISBN, section 1.1.2 (Western Music Notation), page 8:

        To notate music that is played on a piano or is played by different musicians on various instruments, one often uses several staves to notate the various musical voices. A single vertical line drawn to the left of multiple staves creates a staff system, which indicates that the music on all staves is to be played simultaneously. A bracket is an additional vertically aligned symbol joining staves. This symbol shows groupings of instruments that function as a unit, such as the string section of an orchestra […].

   5. (physiology) A set of body organs having a particular function.

      the digestive system  the nervous system

      • 1995, Terence J. Dawson, “Living in the Environment – Feeding”, in Kangaroos: Biology of the Largest Marsupials, Ithaca, N.Y.: Comstock Publishing Associates, Cornell University Press, published 1998, →ISBN, page 102:

        Animals have evolved a variety of digestive systems to utilise fibre. The kangaroos have evolved a digestive system that has much in common with those found in ruminant mammals from other continents, but there are also unique features.

   6. (psychiatry) A set of alters, or the multiple (“the individual with multiple personalities due to, for example, a dissociative personality disorder”) who contains them.
      • 1995, Stephen E. Braude, First Person Plural: Multiple Personality and the Philosophy of Mind, revised edition, Lanham, Md., London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, page 56:

        But that alter often turns out to be relatively recent and fairly peripheral in the multiple's total system of alters.

      • 2017, “A New Therapist”, in Patricia Frankish, Valerie Sinason, editors, Holistic Therapy for People with Dissociative Identity Disorder, London: Karnac Books, →ISBN, page 79:

        Rosie's courage allowed her to engage with me quickly and soon provided reassurance to others in the system that I was safe and non-abusive. Soon after, a number of other alters made themselves known to me. […] I was initially very worried that I would offend the system by missing when switches occurred, or even misidentify who was present with me.

      • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:system.
   7. (astronomy) A system in which two or more objects are bound to each other by gravity.

      There are eight planets in the solar system.

      • 2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Yukawa, Euler system:

        Yukawa is a small rock planet with a thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide. After a labor dispute with companies shipping metallic asteroids to the nearby Arcturus system, Yukawa's iron core and blanket of hematite were briefly mined to aid in the construction of Arcturus Station.

   8. (philosophy) A comprehensive and logically organized set of propositions or philosophical beliefs.
      • 2019, David McIlwain, Michael Oakeshott and Leo Strauss: The Politics of Renaissance and Enlightenment, →ISBN, page 131, note 5:

        In the footnote attached to this statement Rosen refers to the “hypnotic” quality of Kojève’s system.

   9. (roleplaying games) A set of rules for a tabletop roleplaying game.
2. A method or way of organizing or planning.

   Followers should have a system to follow that works in their interests, not against them.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, “In which Fortune Seems to have been in a Better Humour with Jones than We have hitherto Seen Her”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume IV, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VIII, page 253:

     But ſo Matters fell out, and ſo I muſt relate them; and if any Reader is ſhocked at their appearing unnatural, I cannot help it. I must remind ſuch Persons, that I am not writing a Syſtem, but a Hiſtory, and I am not obliged to reconcile every Matter to the received Notions concerning Truth and Nature.

   • 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC, pages 13–14:

     As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could.

   • 2012 March–April, John T[homas] Jost, “Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 21 June 2017, page 162:

     He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record. With this biological framework in place, [Peter] Corning endeavors to show that the capitalist system as currently practiced in the United States and elsewhere is manifestly unfair.

In attributive use, especially relating to computer systems, the plural is more common than the singular; one normally speaks of a systems engineer and not a system engineer.

• → Japanese: システム (shisutemu)

• network

• system on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• stymes

From late Latin systēma, from Ancient Greek σύστημα (sústēma, “organised whole, body”), from σύν (sún, “with, together”) + ἵστημι (hístēmi, “I stand”).

• IPA^(key): /systeːm/, [syˈsd̥eːˀm]

system n (singular definite systemet, plural indefinite systemer)

1. system

• system on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

• “system” in Den Danske Ordbog

From English system.

• IPA^(key): /sis.tɛm/
• Homophone: système

system m (plural systems)

1. Word used in star system

From Ancient Greek σύστημα (sústēma).

system n (definite singular systemet, indefinite plural system or systemer, definite plural systema or systemene)

1. a system

• “system” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Ancient Greek σύστημα (sústēma).

system n (definite singular systemet, indefinite plural system, definite plural systema)

1. a system

• “system” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• systema (obsolete)

Borrowed from French système.[1][2] First attested in 1628.[3]

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɨs.tɛm/
• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /ˈsɨs.tɛm/, /ˈsɨs.tem/

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• Rhymes: -ɨstɛm
• Syllabification: sys‧tem

system m inan (diminutive systemik, related adjective systemowy)

1. system (collection of organized things; whole composed of relationships among its members)

   Synonym: układ

2. (technology) system (set of devices and tools as a whole)
3. (physiology) system (set of body organs having a particular function)

   Synonym: układ

4. (literary, philosophy) system (comprehensive and logically organized set of propositions or philosophical beliefs)

   Near-synonym: teoria

5. system (method or way of organizing or planning)

   Near-synonym: metoda

6. (government) system (elites or government of a state)

   Synonym: ustrój

7. (mathematics) system (set of equations involving the same variables, which are to be solved simultaneously)
8. (computing) system (set of hardware and software operating in a computer)
9. (geology) formation (layer of rock of common origin)
10. (astronomy) system (planetary system; a set of planets orbiting a star or star system)

    Synonym: układ

11. (obsolete, music) system (set of staves linked by a brace that indicate instruments or sounds that are to be played simultaneously)

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), system is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 62 times in scientific texts, 26 times in news, 76 times in essays, 0 times in fiction, and 1 time in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 165 times, making it the 348th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.[4]

• system in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• system in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “systema”, in Słownik języka polskiego‎
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “system”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861‎
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1915), “system”, in Słownik języka polskiego‎ (in Polish), volume 6, Warsaw, page 545

• IPA^(key): /syst.eːm/

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system n

1. a system, a way or method of organizing items and knowledge
2. a computer system (primarily its hardware)
3. a system of restricted sales of alcohol, including state-owned monopoly shops

• system in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

• mysets

• sustem

From English system.

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈsɨ̞sdɛm/, [ˈsɨ̞stɛm]
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪsdɛm/, [ˈsɪstɛm]

system f (plural systemau, not mutable)

1. system

   Synonym: cyfundrefn

Being a word borrowed from English derived from Greek, the y in system is pronounced /ɨ̞, ɪ/ rather than expected /ə/. To preserve consistency between pronunciation and spelling, some prefer to spell this word sustem. Nevertheless, system is the more common spelling of the two. See pyramid/puramid, symbol/sumbol, synthesis/sunthesis for similar examples.

• systematig (“systematic”)

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “system”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies