Systemical

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Concerning the comprehensive structure or organization as an interconnected whole
2. Pertaining to the entirety of a system and how its parts work together
3. Concerning the overall framework that integrates components into a unified whole

Etymology: "Systemical" is a plain English formation: the noun "system" with the adjective-forming suffix "-ical" attached. "System" came into English from Late Latin "systema," which in turn came from Greek "systēma," meaning a whole put together from parts, from "synistanai," to place together. The suffix "-ical" comes from Greek "-ikos" through Latin "-icus," and in English it had a long run of forming adjectives from nouns, often beside a shorter form ending in "-ic" (so "systemic" and "systemical" sit side by side). The surprising point is that the "-ical" form is the longer, slightly more old-fashioned variant. Both forms describe something that is organized as a connected whole, but "systemical" has usually been the less common choice, and it is used mostly for the same sense that "systemic" carries in fields such as medicine and sociology. The word is a transparent coinage rather than a term with a dramatic backstory, so its meaning follows directly from the parts it is built from.

Synonyms: systematic, organized, methodical, structured, comprehensive

Antonyms: disorganized, chaotic, random, haphazard, unsystematic