Analyses

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /əˈnæl.ɪ.siːz/

Definitions

1. Evaluations that carefully scrutinize and interpret data across different contexts
2. Studies that dissect information into its component elements for better understanding
3. Detailed examinations of information to understand its structure and meaning

Etymology: "Analyses" is the plural of "analysis," and the noun it pluralizes comes from Greek "analysis," meaning "a breaking up" or "a releasing," built from "ana-" (up, throughout) and "lysis" (loosening), the same root behind "-lysis" in words like "paralysis." The Greek sense was physical: undoing something by taking it apart into its pieces. The word's shift from taking things apart to studying them is what gives it its modern meaning. Greek logicians and mathematicians used "analysis" for a method of reasoning backward from a conclusion to its premises, working out what must be true for a result to hold. Over time the idea of breaking a whole into components became the general notion of examining something by its parts, which is how it came to cover the close study of data. "Analyses" keeps the Greek-derived plural pattern: the "-is" singular becomes "-es" in the plural, as in "crises" and "theses."

Synonyms: examinations, evaluations, assessments, reviews, inspections