analysisn.
/əˈnalᵻsɪs/, U.S. /əˈnæləsəs/ I. General uses.
1.
a. A detailed examination or study of something so as to determine its nature, structure, or essential features. Also: the result of this process; a detailed examination or report; a particular interpretation or formulation of the essential features of something. Cf. also data analysis n. at data n. Compounds 1.In the early modern period, examples of sense 2b often have examination of this kind as the implicit end of the process of resolution into parts, but evidence lacking any explicit sense of resolution is relatively uncommon before the middle of the 18th cent.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary and textual criticism > literary criticism > [noun] > critical analysis
analysis1580
autopsy1879
style analysis1927
close reading1932
1580 G. Harvey in E. Spenser & G. Harvey Three Proper & Wittie Lett. 48 Sometime this, sometime that, hath been noted by good wits in their Analyses, to fall out generally alyke.
1588 J. Morgan (title) A short analysis of a part of the second chapter of S. Iames, from the 14. verse to the end of the same.
1684 tr. F. Hédelin d'Aubignac Whole Art of Stage iv. v. 153 (heading) An analysis, or examen of the first tragedy of Sophocles.
1789 W. Belsham Ess. II. xxxiv. 244 Of these [theories] I shall not descend to a particular analysis.
1798 J. B. Seale Anal. Greek Metres (ed. 3) p. vi These considerations..have induced me to print this Analysis.
1843 Brit. & Foreign Med. Rev. 15 305 The tables in question were obtained from careful analyses of the registration books, by the clerks of the several poor law unions.
1882 Athenæum 14 Jan. 51/3 It contains what profess to be adequate analyses of..the ‘akosmism of Brahmanism’ and the ‘absolute illusionism of Buddhism’.
1902 Banker's Mag. Aug. 218 This is an exhaustive technical analysis of the causes affecting the New York money market, accompanied by numerous statistical tables.
1966 Surg., Gynecol. & Obstetr. 123 1212 (title) An analysis of 284 patients with perforative carcinoma of the colon.
1971 Sunday Times 28 Mar. 32/6 Ludovic Kennedy published his devastating analysis of the Christie murders and established the innocence of Timothy Evans.
1982 London Rev. Bks. 4 Feb. 13 Aristotle's sociology of Greek politics comes very near to a Marxist analysis.
2004 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 8 Dec. c5/1 An analysis..showed that at least one of every four military families have used the expensive short-term instant loans.
b. The action or process of carrying out such a detailed examination; the methodical or systematic investigation of something complex in order to explain or understand it.In the early modern period, the sense given is often implicitly the end of the process described in sense 2a, but examples lacking any explicit sense of resolution into parts are uncommon before the middle of the 18th cent.needs, panel, risk analysis: see the first element.
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1581 E. K. in E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. (new ed.) Gen. Argt. Which difinition albe..it agree with the nature of the thing, yet no whit answereth with the Analysis and interpretation of the word.
a1649 T. Shepard Theses Sabbaticæ (1650) 150 Let a plain analysis be made of the motives used to presse obedience to the fourth command.
1722 W. Wollaston Relig. of Nature Delineated iii. 34 We assemble all such axioms, theorems, experiments and observations, as are already known,..or present themselves upon the opening and analysis of the question.
1777 tr. ‘A. D. Philidor’ (title) Analysis of the game of chess.
1817 S. T. Coleridge Biogr. Lit. I. iv. 86 A more intimate analysis..matured my conjecture into full conviction.
1826 Monthly Rev. June 221 This detail is followed by an analysis of the causes of the success of one party and the failure of the other.
1863 A. P. Stanley Lect. Jewish Church I. v. 123 We may leave the question to the critical analysis of the text.
1866 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighbourhood 470 A time favourable to the analysis of feeling.
1942 B. Malinowski Sci. Theory Culture (1944) ii.12 He has..provided much of the inspiration towards the really scientific tendencies in modern sociology, the analysis of modern cultural phenomena and direct observation.
1944 M. McLuhan Let. Mar. (1987) 158 I imagine that the course in Practical Criticism, stressing the reading and analysis of prose and poetry would be, initially, most helpful.
1995 Sci. & Public Affairs Winter 65/1 Today, even a minute trace of DNA is enough for analysis.
2.
a. The resolution or breaking up of a complex whole into its basic elements or constituent parts; (in early use often) spec. the resolution of an argument, discourse, etc., into the particular topics it deals with, arranged as an ordered, logical structure. Also: an instance of this. Frequently opposed to synthesis n. 6a, (in early use) genesis n. 3a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > separation or breaking up into constituent parts > [noun]
resolutiona1398
resolvinga1398
anatomya1569
analysis1588
analysing1600
retexture1620
principiationa1626
solution1655
analysation1698
decomposure1744
decomposition1762
disarticulation1902
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > close examination, scrutiny > [noun] > analysis
anatomya1569
analysis1588
anatomizing1594
analysea1638
anatomization1676
analysation1698
1588 A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike i. vii. f. 83v Now let vs in order of Analysis, apply such arguments to this woord, Amicitia, as wee can readily find in the forenamed Dialogue.
1589 Nashe in R. Greene Menaphon Pref. 7 These men..doe bound their base humours in the beggerly straights of a hungry Analysis.
1640 J. Jackson Key of Knowl. sig. B3v Proving the principles and fundamentals of Religion by Scripture,..which may bee called the Genesis and Analysis of Divinity.
1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 165 Logick must lend him Analysis to make usefull division of this divine Bread; Rhetorick is the hand (as Logick is the knife) to reach it home, when divided, to every hungry Soule.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding iii. xi. §9. 254 I do not say, a Man needs stand to recollect, and make this Analysis at large, every time the word Iustice comes in his way: But this, at least, is necessary, that he have so examined the signification of that Name, and setled the Idea of all its Parts in his Mind, that he can do it when he pleases.
1755 E. Bentham Reflexions upon Logic (ed. 2) 52 Whoever can habituate himself to form such Analysis with ease and quickness must have great advantages in the course of any Debate.
1797 W. Godwin Enquirer i. vi. 46 The habits of investigation and analysis.
1825 T. B. Macaulay Milton in Edinb. Rev. Aug. 307 Analysis is not the business of the poet. His office is to pourtray, not to dissect.
1873 H. Spencer Study Sociol. 322 Analysis has for its chief function to prepare the way for synthesis.
1899 J. Welton Logical Bases of Educ. (1904) v. 78 Every judgment is both an analysis and a synthesis... Simple examples can be found in such judgments as 8=5+3 where the analysis is the more prominent; and in 5+3=8, where the synthesis predominates.
1906 J. B. Crozier Wheel of Wealth iii. iii. 412 The analysis of price into its constituent elements, assumes that the price hasalready been determined.
1989 Jrnl. Hist. Ideas 50 242 Praxis..is made up of genesis and analysis.
2002 J. Fienberg & G. Leinhardt in G. Leinhardt et al. Learning Conversat. in Museums vi. 170 Analysis and synthesis are expected to occur within the expanded talk as well as the abbreviated talk.
b. An abridgement of the results of this process, esp. one displayed in tabulated form; a synopsis, a conspectus.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > non-fiction > summary or epitome > [noun] > synoptical statement
abstract1436
titling1465
capitulation1523
aphorism1528
argument1535
table1560
analysis1588
the brief1601
abstractive1611
synopsis1611
method1614
synopsy1616
modela1626
scheme1652
syllabus1653
précis1760
summing up1795
aperçu1828
conspectus1839
vidimus1884
auto-abstract1892
standfirst1972
1588 A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike f. 139v (heading) A Logicall Analysis of Stanfords crowne pleaes.
1606 J. Marston Parasitaster iv. sig. G2 That very all epigram of a woman, that Analysis, that compendium of witnes.
1644 E. Huit (title) The whole prophecie of Daniel explained by a paraphrase, analysis and briefe comment.
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. ii. i. §1. 22 A Scheme or Analysis of all the Genus's or more common heads of things belonging to this design.
1737 W. Barrowby tr. J. Astruc Treat. Venereal Dis. I. Contents p. xxii A chronological Index of the Authors, who have written upon the Venereal Disease,..with a short analysis of the greatest part of most of their Works.
1793 W. Langworthy Attempt to promote Commerc. Interests Great Brit. p. ii (heading) Analysis of tract I.
1828 Loudon's Gardener's Mag. 3 75 Sporting Intelligence.—Fox-hunting. Racing. The Turf. Stud Sales. The Chase. Cricket. Miscellaneous. Our readers will see from the above analysis what an extensive body of information is..in this work.
1859 Appendix 17th Vol. Jrnls. Legislative Ass. Canada 3 App. v The foregoing Analysis gives the following result for the Ordinary Service and Income of 1858.
1936 F. N. House Devel. Sociol. x. 115 So involved and voluminous are Comte's own works..that such a competent analysis and summary is more serviceable to the average student than are the primary texts.
2004 M. Windrow Last Valley (2006) xv. 566 This was the occasion when the ambassador was handed the analysis..from General Navarre, summarizing all Chinese aid to the Viet Minh.
c. Cricket. A statistical summary of a bowler's performance.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > bowling > [noun] > bowling figures or analysis
analysis1851
figures1951
return1975
1851 Huddersfield Chron. 20 Sept. 5/6 By a typographical error in the analysis of bowling at this match,..Clarke was made to have bowled only 16 overs.
1882 Daily Tel. 27 May The fielding of the Australians..was as nothing compared with the bowling, the analysis of which we append below.
1904 P. F. Warner How we recovered Ashes iii. 57 His [sc. Rhodes's] analysis—two wickets for seventy-eight runs—is misleading, as analyses very often are.
1995 Sunday Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 5 Feb. (Sportsweek section) 12 In the first two Tests of the Ashes summer, won by Australia, Warne's analysis was 112.2-43-190-20.
II. Specialized uses involving chiefly mental analysis.
3. Philosophy. The action or method of proceeding from effects to causes, or of inferring general laws or principles from particular instances; the tracing back of knowledge to its original or fundamental principles. Frequently contrasted with synthesis n. 1a.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > [noun]
logic1362
analysis1611
logic1637
philosophical logic1824
1611 T. Coryate Crudities sig. Kk5v A Sciographie of sacred Theologie according to the three formes of methode, synthesis, analysis, and definition.
1661 J. Glanvill Vanity of Dogmatizing xxi. 210 We cannot know any thing of Nature but by an Analysis of it to its true initial causes.
1725 I. Watts Logick iv. i. 512 Analysis finds out Causes by their Effects.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Analysis is most proper for the discovery of truth, and synthesis for teaching and explaining it in a systematical way.
1780 J. Bruce First Princ. Philos. ii. ii. §i. 48 The method of Analysis..proceeds from the observation of particular phenomena to the discovery of the real arrangements of Nature.
1814 D. Stewart Elem. Philos. Human Mind II. iv. §3. 370 In some cases, the natural philosopher uses the word Analysis, where it is probable that a Greek geometer would have used the word Synthesis. Thus, in astronomy, when we attempt from the known phenomena to establish the truth of the Copernican system, we are said to proceed analytically.
1877 E. Caird Crit. Acct. Philos. Kant ii. vii. 319 Analysis..is simply going back on the path which the mind has already travelled, proceeding from the more to the less determinate.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 892/1 Deduction is analysis when it is regressive from consequence to real ground... Deduction is synthesis when it is progressive from real ground to consequence.
1997 P. H. Byrne Anal. & Sci. in Aristotle i. 4 On the other hand, synthesis..was indeed a matter of logical deduction from principles arrived at by analysis.
4. Grammar. The process of breaking up sentences, phrases, and words into smaller grammatical elements having distinct relationships and functions, as nouns, verbs, prepositions, etc.; a method for carrying out such a process. Sometimes with modifying word.componential, discourse, immediate constituent analysis: see the first element.
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the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > [noun] > grammatical analysis
construinga1568
analysis1612
1612 J. Brinsley Ludus Lit. viii. 104 Of the Analysis or resoluing a sentence.
1725 I. Watts Logick iv. i. 508 The Word Analysis has three or four Senses..When a Sentence is distinguisht into the Nouns, the Verbs, Pronouns, Adverbs, and other Particles of Speech which compose it, then it is said to be analys'd grammatically. When the same Sentence is distinguisht into Subject and Predicate,..Adjunct, Opposite, &c. then 'tis analys'd logically and metaphysically.
1852 Min. Comm. Council I. 23 Geography, history, the analysis of language, arithmetic.
1852 Morell (title) Analysis of sentences explained.
1870 F. W. Farrar Families of Speech i. 41 The name for grammar in Sanskrit..means analysis.
1884 N.E.D. at Analysis Since 1852..Logical, Syntactic, or Sentence Analysis [are] the resolution of the sentence into elements performing distinct functions in the expression of thought, and thus having definite relations to the whole sentence and to each other, as subject and predicate with their respective enlargements.
1916 Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. 31 p. xiii A study of the accentual rhythms of English prose based on a prosodic analysis of 2500 idiomatic phrases.
1928 Lang. 4 207 One cannot but improve the leading idea, namely that the point of departure in syntactic analysis ought to be the thought or thing expressed, rather than the frequently vague or ambiguous word or word-group, even though this view is not altogether novel.
1972 R. R. K. Hartmann & F. C. Stork Dict. Lang. & Linguistics 239/1 Some languages, e.g. Japanese, have special particles to mark the topic of the sentence, and for such languages the topic/comment is a more satisfactory analysis than the subject/predicate division.
2004 M. Potter Set Theory & its Philos. iii. 35 The emphasis on syntactic analysis in the studies which have been undertaken of Quine's systems is no doubt to some extent a consequence of the syntactic paradox-barring which motivated them.
5. Mathematics. Originally: †the proving of a proposition by resolution into simpler propositions already proved or admitted (obsolete); (later) algebra (now historical). Now: the branch of mathematics concerned with the rigorous treatment of functions and the use of limits, continuity, and the operations of calculus.combinatorial, Diophantine, Fourier, harmonic analysis, etc.: see the first element.
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the world > relative properties > number > mathematics > [noun] > mathematical enquiry > proposition > proving or checking
resolution1557
construction1570
analysis1649
induction1838
1649 tr. R. Descartes Disc. Reason 33 To hold or comprehend many [Mathematicall Sciences] in one, I was oblig'd to explain them by certain Cyphers the shortest I possibly could, and that I should thereby borrow the best of the Geometricall Analysis, and of Algebra [Fr. j'emprunterais tout le meilleur de l'analyse géométrique et de l'algèbre], & so correct all the defects of the one by the other.
1656 tr. T. Hobbes Elements Philos. iii. xx. 229 Analysis, is continual Reasoning from the Definitions of the terms of a proposition we suppose true..and so on, till we come to some things known.
1720 I. Newton Let. in Corr. (1977) VII. 84 As for Mathematicks: the Ancients had two methods, Synthesis & Analysis or Composition & Resolution. They invented things by their Analysis but admitted nothing into Geometry without a synthetical Demonstration.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. (at cited word) Simple Analysis is that employed in solving problems reducible to simple equations.
1798 C. Hutton Course Math. I. 3 Analysis, or the Analytic Method..is that which is commonly used in Algebra.
1807 T. Young Course Lect. Nat. Philos. I. xx. 248 The method of indivisibles..led to the still more valuable invention of the fluxional analysis.
1844 J. Liebig Familiar Lett. Chem. 2nd Ser. i. 18 In the higher branches of physics it is indispensable that the philosopher should have attained considerable practical skill in mathematical analysis.
1902 E. T. Whittaker Course Mod. Anal. Pref. An account of those methods and processes of higher mathematical analysis, which seem to be of greatest importance at the present time;..it is chiefly concerned with the properties of infinite series and complex integrals, and their applications to the analytical expression of functions.
1972 M. Kline Math. Thought xv. 324 As late as 1797, Lagrange, in Théorie des fonctions analytiques, said that the calculus and its developments were only a generalization of elementary algebra. Since algebra and analysis had been synonyms, the calculus was referred to as analysis.
2004 M. Potter Set Theory & its Philos. 81 The part of mathematics that is usually called either ‘calculus’ or ‘analysis’—that is, roughly, the study of real-valued functions of a real variable, together with the corresponding case for the complex numbers.
6. Philosophy.
a. The investigation of complex ideas, concepts, etc., so as to determine their constituent elements and their structure; an instance of this. Also: the result of this process; a particular interpretation of a concept, phenomenon, etc. Cf. sense 3.Quot. 1756 shows the early development of this sense but still within the context of inquiry into cause or origin (see sense 3).
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > [noun] > logical analysis
partitionc1450
division1551
resolution1557
analytics1574
distribution1588
analysis1756
1756 T. Nugent tr. E. B. de Condillac Ess. Origin Human Knowl. i. vii. 72 To analyze..consists only in compounding and decompounding our ideas, in order to compare them differently, and to discover the relations they have among themselves, together with the new ideas which they are capable of producing. This analysis is the true secret for discoveries, because it makes us ascend to the original of things.
1819 J. Richardson tr. I. Kant Logic Introd. 88 The making of objects distinct belongs to the synthesis, the making of conceptions distinct, to the analysis.
1828 J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. 9 144 To perform the logical analysis of an argument, in the manner pointed out by the doctrine of the syllogism, is not the best means of discovering whether it contain a flaw.
1883 F. H. Bradley Princ. Logic i. ii. 95 It is wholly unjustifiable to take up a complex, to do any work we please upon it by analysis, and then simply predicate as an adjective of the given these results of our abstraction.
1901 W. James Mem. & Stud. (1911) vii. 169 Some psychologists are fascinated..by the dissecting out, whether by logical analysis or by brass instruments, of whatever elementary mental processes may be [in living action].
1903 B. Russell Princ. Math. liii. 466 A distinction is made..between conceptual analysis and real division into parts.
1959 P. F. Strawson Individuals (2003) v. §6. 196 In spite of the attractive simplicity of this analysis, however, and its harmony with the spirit of the previous sections, I think the form in which it is presented makes it unacceptable.
1969 D. C. Dennett Content & Consciousness vi. 131 The way out is an analysis of phenomena at the sub-personal level, and although this leads one into areas many philosophers would prefer to avoid, the alternative is the perpetuation of traditional confusions.
2002 D. Papineau Thinking about Consciousness (2004) 8 I hoped to take the causal argument as read, and start straight off with my analysis of phenomenal concepts.
b. spec. The attempt to formulate a logically precise paraphrase of a given word, phrase, or sentence, esp. for the purpose of clarifying the corresponding concept or concepts; (also) an instance of this procedure, a paraphrase resulting from this.Though often proposed as simply revealing the logical structure of the concept or expression being analysed, such analysis has also commonly been used to elaborate or support various kinds of metaphysical reductionism, e.g. phenomenalism or physicalism, and is then sometimes called reductive analysis.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > philosophy of language > language theories of individual philosophers > [noun] > philosophical analysis
philosophical analysis1759
analysis1910
linguistic analysis1945
conceptual analysis1949
meta-analysis1953
1910 A. N. Whitehead & B. Russell Principia Mathematica I. iii. 69 In all such cases, the proposition must be capable of being so analysed that what was the grammatical subject shall have disappeared. Thus when we say ‘the round square does not exist’, we may, as a first attempt at such analysis, substitute ‘it is false that there is an object x which is both round and square’.
1912 B. Russell Probl. Philos. v. 91 The fundamental principle in the analysis of propositions containing descriptions is this: Every proposition which we can understand must be composed wholly of constituents with which we are acquainted.
1949 Mind 58 46 A later and more radical form of reductive analysis is characterised by the complete repudiation of ‘consciousness’ and the replacement of mental ‘acts’ as the constituents of mind by events which are common to both mental and physical complexes.
1958 G. J. Warnock Eng. Philos. since 1900 ii. 27 Moore involved both himself and others in difficulties resulting from the unquestioned assumption that any analysis must be of a standard pattern. It was always to consist in providing a verbal paraphrase of what was to be analysed, in the form of a longer, more explicit, but strictly synonymous phrase or sentence.
1960 in J. O. Urmson Conc. Encycl. Western Philos. 18/1 An analysis..is a sort of definition, a kind of equation with the puzzling expression, the analysandum, on the left-hand side and the new expression, sometimes called the analysis, sometimes the analysans, on the right.
1978 Philosophy 53 566 The idea that we can transcend our entire concrete, phenomenal situation in the world is a very ancient and enticing one in philosophy. One of its faces proffers the spurious enlightenment of reductive analysis (‘Colour is wavelength of electromagnetic radiation, ‘X sees colours’ means ‘X can discriminate coloured objects from one another’, and so on’).
2001 P. M. S. Hacker Wittgenstein i. 13 The Tractatus was a paradigm of analytic philosophy..Its programme, as understood both in Cambridge and in Vienna, committed one to the method of logico-linguistic analysis of complex expressions into their simple unanalysable constituents. It encouraged the programme of reductive analysis and its mirror image—logical construction.
7. Music. A critical description of a musical work with regard to its structure.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > study or science of music > [noun] > critical analysis
analysis1816
1816 G. G. Graham Acct. of First Edinb. Music Festival 110 The profusion of extraordinary beauties to be found in this Symphony Mozart K. 543 have induced me to be more particular in my analysis than may perhaps be agreeable to the generality of readers.
1885 G. B. Shaw How to become Musical Critic (1960) 110 When the work analyzed is a familiar one..the analysis..is a stereotyped reprint.
1935 D. F. Tovey Ess. Mus. Anal. I. 1 Some of the analyses..were written on occasions where there was no opportunity for musical quotations.
1998 Musical Q. 82 1 His famous analysis of Lasso's motet..labels musical figures with such rhetorical terms as hypotyposis, hypalage, mimesis, and pathopoeia.
8. Psychology. The mental process involved in perceiving the distinct elements which make up something which at first appears to consist of one thing. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > psychology of cognition > [noun] > discrimination of sensations
analysis1890
1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. xiii. 502 Our first way of looking at a reality is often to suppose it simple, but later we may learn to perceive it as compound. This new way of knowing the same reality may conveniently be called by the name of Analysis. It is manifestly one of the most incessantly performed of all our mental processes.
1938 R. S. Woodworth Exper. Psychol. xxv. 645 To judge the lines and angles of a figure requires analysis which is difficult because the observer is engrossed in the appearance of the figure as a whole.
9. = psychoanalysis n.; (also) an examination by this method. Frequently in in analysis: (of a person) undergoing psychoanalytic treatment.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > theory of psychoanalysis > [noun] > therapeutic method
analysis1898
psychoanalysis1906
talking cure1910
psycho1921
depth psychology1927
1898 H. Ellis in Alienist & Neurologist 19 610 The influence of fear is not denied by Breuer and Freud, but they have found that careful psychic analysis frequently reveals that the shock of a commonplace ‘fear’ is really rooted in a lesion of the sexual emotions.
1901 J. M. Baldwin Dict. Philos. & Psychol. I. 43/2 The process of using introspection for purposes of analysis has become a recognized method called analysis or introspective analysis.
1907 Brain 30 179 In hysteria with very little trouble the complex may be revealed by analysis, and with a good prospect of therapeutic advantage.
1912 A. A. Brill tr. S. Freud Sel. Papers on Hysteria (ed. 2) iv. 76 It is very difficult to examine a case of neurosis before it has been subjected to a thorough analysis.
1953 W. S. Burroughs Junkie Pref. 8 Much of my progress in analysis was accomplished in spite of my analyst who did not like my ‘orientation’, as he called it.
1975 S. H. Foulkes Group-Analytic Psychotherapy viii. 169 A patient, after an analysis, needs some time—half a year or so, before he can really be said to have ‘finished with his analysis’.
2006 Internat. Herald Tribune (Nexis) 8 May 6 It became fashionable to be neurotic, to be in analysis and to be able to afford it. And..we scarcely noticed that this therapy which took so long and cost so much wasn't curing anybody.
III. Chiefly technical uses involving analysis into physical components.† 10. The physical breaking up and separating of something; an instance of this. Obsolete (but cf. sense 11).figurative in quot. 1650.
ΚΠ
1650 T. Vaughan Anthroposophia Theomagica 9 This Mystery or appearance of the Idea is excellently manifested in the Magicall Analysis of Bodies; (For he that knows how to imitate the Proto-Chymistrie of the Spirit by Separation of the Principles wherein the Life is Imprisoned, may see the Impresse of it Experimentally in the outward naturall vestiments).
1661 R. Boyle Sceptical Chymist 22 Among so many mixt Bodies that are compounded of the four Elements, some of them should upon a slight Analysis manifestly exhibite the Ingredients they consist of.
1667 H. Stubbe in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 2 501 I tryed some Analysis of Bodies by letting Ants eat them.
1867 J. F. W. Herschel Familiar Lect. Sci. Subj. 70 A mechanical analysis of the contents of your basket.
11. Chemistry. Originally: †the breaking down of a substance into simpler constituents (obsolete). In later use: the identification and measurement (by chemical or instrumental means) of the constituents of a substance, specimen, etc., or of a particular component (e.g. a contaminant) within it. Also: an instance of such a process. Frequently with distinguishing word indicating the technique used, as gravimetric, HPLC, NMR, volumetric analysis, etc.Analysis is traditionally divided into qualitative analysis, the identification or detection of constituents, and quantitative analysis, the measurement of their quantities or proportions.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical assay or analytical chemistry > [noun] > general chemical analysis
dissection1605
anatomy1621
analysis1655
proximate analysis1831
1655 G. S. in S. Hartlib Reformed Common-wealth Bees 27 Manna..hath [not] the like nature as Honey, which in its Analysis more easily is apparent.
1677 W. Harris tr. N. Lémery Course Chym. ii. xii. 281 Let us examine, now whether any such thing can probably be found in Opium, by the Analysis I have made of it.
1704 Observ. on Case of W. Rose, Apothecary 25 Instituted in the Knowledge of natural Bodies, and exercis'd in the Analysis of all sorts of 'em, whether animall, vegetative, or mineral.
1745 Philos. Trans. 1744–5 (Royal Soc.) 43 269 Having, from sawing the Stone, a Quantity of its Powder, I was induced to an Inquiry into its constituent parts by way of Analysis.
1791 W. Hamilton tr. C.-L. Berthollet Elements Art of Dyeing I. i. i. iii. 51 The quantity of charcoal which they yield by analysis.
1831 T. P. Jones New Conversat. Chem. xxviii. 282 Sugar, starch, and gum are proximate principles, and these we obtain by proximate analysis.
1840 J. F. Archbold Justice of Peace & Parish Officer I. 292 The coroner may direct a post mortem examination of the body, with or without an analysis of the contents of the stomach or intestines.
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 83 A large number of analyses of air from various localities.
1931 Industr. & Engin. Chem. (Analyt. ed.) 3 345 An apparatus is described for microgravimetric analyses, such as sulfate, halide, and phosphate determinations.
1975 Times 7 Oct. 5/2 When oil is struck..the oilman needs samples for laboratory analysis.
1990 Y. Doi Microbial Polyesters ii. 24 In NMR analysis, 2–5mg of the copolymer sample is dissolved in deuteriated chloroform.
2004 New Scientist 23 Oct. 45/3 A mass spectrometer that will make a detailed chemical analysis of the Titanian air.
12. Optics. The resolution of light into its prismatic constituents; spectral analysis.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > light > chromatism > [noun] > resolution into constituents
analysis1749
secondary spectrum1893
1749 B. Martin Panegyrick Newtonian Philos. 23 The Analysis of Light, by Experiments of the Prism.
1802 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 92 395 The same prismatic analysis of the colours of thin plates, appears to furnish a satisfactory explanation of the subdivision of the light of the lower part of a candle.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. §6. 253 A delicate prismatic analysis of white light.
1902 Proc. Royal Soc. 69 164 The slit of the spectroscope was illuminated with monochromatic light obtained by prismatic analysis.
1965 J. R. Dyer Applic. Absorption Spectroscopy Org. Compounds i. 1 An emission spectrum is obtained by spectroscopic analysis of some light source, such as a flame.
2001 Times 4 Apr. i. 13/1 An analysis of light from 20 objects in the Orion nebula..has proved for the first time that they are both too small and too cool to be stars.
Phrases
in the final (also last) analysis [after French en dernière analyse (1770)] : when everything has been considered; basically.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > end or conclusion > the end [phrase] > in the end or at last
at lastlOE
at the lastlOE
afinec1325
in the lasta1382
for conclusionc1386
an-endc1390
the lasta1400
in (the) finea1500
at conclusiona1513
in conclusiona1513
at long last1523
at length1525
in (rarely at, upon) the upshot1577
in the final (also last) analysis1786
in the death1958
at the end of the day1974
1777 W. Hooper tr. C.-A. Helvétius Treat. Man II. x. xi. 446 From whence I observe, that as this interest, in its last analysis, takes its source in corporeal sensibility; that this sensibility is consequently the sole principle of human ideas and actions.]
1786 P. Mac Mahon tr. C. Casaux Thoughts Mechanism of Societies 81 Such will be, in the last analysis, the results of the underworkings of nature.
1794 J. Barlow tr. J.-P. Brissot de Warville Commerce Amer. with Europe i. 28 Thus, in the final analysis, the power of furnishing at a low price belongs incontestably to countries so favoured.
1822 A. Kohlmann Unitarianism Examined II. 29 He says and unsays..all to no purpose; because, in the final analysis he discovers, that all his schemes serve no other end, [etc.].
1885 Harper's Mag. Mar. 648/1 The loveliest doll in the last analysis is merely sawdust.
1944 W. Apel Harvard Dict. Music 605/1 In the final analysis, there are two types of program music: that which is good music regardless of the program; and that which is poor music even with a ‘good’ program.
1957 L. F. Brosnahan Genes & Phonemes 12 The total experience incorporated in a language, in the vocabulary, morphology and syntax, must, in the last analysis, have been gained through the senses.
2005 Cheshire Life Aug. 280/3 No matter how picture-postcard pretty a property appears to be, in the final analysis if the plumbing doesn't work you're likely to end up wading through trouble.
Compounds
analysis paralysis n. inability to respond effectively to a situation due to an over-analytical approach or to an excess of available information.
ΚΠ
1972 Times 12 Sept. 2/6 The whole church was suffering from ‘analysis paralysis’.
1980 Harvard Business Rev. (Nexis) Jan. 122 Managers..may become more exasperated with the problem of information overload. They will also be expected to continue making effective decisions... But, in the process of doing so, managers may become more engulfed with the problem of analysis paralysis.
2005 Computerworld (Nexis) 10 Oct. 36 Don't overanalyze. It can lead to analysis paralysis.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1580