analysis

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The separation of an intellectual or material whole into its constituent parts for individual study.
• noun The study of such constituent parts and their interrelationships in making up a whole.
• noun A spoken or written presentation of such study.
• noun The separation of a substance into its constituent elements to determine either their nature (qualitative analysis) or their proportions (quantitative analysis).
• noun The stated findings of such a separation or determination.
• noun A branch of mathematics principally involving differential and integral calculus, sequences, and series and concerned with limits and convergence.
• noun The method of proof in which a known truth is sought as a consequence of a series of deductions from that which is the thing to be proved.
• noun Linguistics The use of function words such as prepositions, pronouns, or auxiliary verbs instead of inflectional endings to express a grammatical relationship; for example, the cover of the dictionary instead of the dictionary's cover.
• noun Psychoanalysis.
• noun Systems analysis.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In cricket, an itemized record of the play of the bowler, intended to show particularly the number of runs scored by him and the number of wickets obtained.
• noun In chem., intentionally produced decomposition: often applied to the ascertainment of the composition of a substance, whether the constituents are actually obtained in separate form or not.
• noun The resolution or separation of anything which is compound, as a conception, a sentence, a material substance, or an event, into its constituent elements or into its causes; decomposition.
• noun The regressive scientific method of discovery; research into causes; induction.
• noun In mathematics: Originally, and still frequently, a regressive method, said to have been invented by Plato, which first assumes the conclusion and gradually leads back to the premises.
• noun Algebraical reasoning, in which unknown quantities are operated upon in order to find their values.
• noun The treatment of problems by a consideration of infinitesimals, or something equivalent, especially by the differential calculus (including the integral calculus, the calculus of variations, etc.): often called infinitesimal analysis. This is the common meaning of the word in modern times.
• noun Hence — The discussion of a problem by means of algebra (in the sense of a system of symbols with rules of transformation), in opposition to a geometrical discussion of it, that is, a discussion resting directly upon the imagination of space: thus, analytical geometry is the treatment of geometrical problems by analysis.
• noun A syllabus or synopsis of the contents of a book or discourse, or of the principles of a science.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A resolution of anything, whether an object of the senses or of the intellect, into its constituent or original elements; an examination of the component parts of a subject, each separately, as the words which compose a sentence, the tones of a tune, or the simple propositions which enter into an argument. It is opposed to synthesis.
• noun (Chem.) The separation of a compound substance, by chemical processes, into its constituents, with a view to ascertain either (a) what elements it contains, or (b) how much of each element is present. The former is called qualitative, and the latter quantitative analysis.
• noun (Logic) The tracing of things to their source, and the resolving of knowledge into its original principles.
• noun (Math.) The resolving of problems by reducing the conditions that are in them to equations.
• noun A syllabus, or table of the principal heads of a discourse, disposed in their natural order.
• noun A brief, methodical illustration of the principles of a science. In this sense it is nearly synonymous with synopsis.
• noun (Nat. Hist.) The process of ascertaining the name of a species, or its place in a system of classification, by means of an analytical table or key.
• noun (Chem.) See under Ultimate, Proximate, Qualitative, etc.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun countable, of a thing, theory A process of dismantling or separating into constituent elements in order to study the nature, function, or meaning.
• noun countable The result of such a process.
• noun uncountable, mathematics The mathematical study of functions, sequences, series, limits, derivatives and integrals.
• noun countable, logic Proof by deduction from known truths.
• noun countable, chemistry The process of breaking down a substance into its constituent parts, or the result of this process.
• noun countable, psychology Psychoanalysis.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun an investigation of the component parts of a whole and their relations in making up the whole
• noun a form of literary criticism in which the structure of a piece of writing is analyzed
• noun the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., `the father of the bride' instead of `the bride's father'
• noun a set of techniques for exploring underlying motives and a method of treating various mental disorders; based on the theories of Sigmund Freud
• noun a branch of mathematics involving calculus and the theory of limits; sequences and series and integration and differentiation
• noun the abstract separation of a whole into its constituent parts in order to study the parts and their relations