the separating of any material or abstract entity into its constituent elements (opposed to synthesis).

this process as a method of studying the nature of something or of determining its essential features and their relations: the grammatical analysis of a sentence.

a presentation, usually in writing, of the results of this process: The paper published an analysis of the political situation.

a philosophical method of exhibiting complex concepts or propositions as compounds or functions of more basic ones.

Mathematics. an investigation based on the properties of numbers. the discussion of a problem by algebra, as opposed to geometry. the branch of mathematics consisting of calculus and its higher developments. a system of calculation, as combinatorial analysis or vector analysis. a method of proving a proposition by assuming the result and working backward to something that is known to be true. Compare synthesis (def 4).