polysynthetic

[ pol-ee-sin-thet-ik ]
/ ˌpɒl i sɪnˈθɛt ɪk /

adjective

(of a language) characterized by a prevalence of relatively long words containing a large number of affixes to express syntactic relationships and meanings. Many American Indian languages are polysynthetic. Compare analytic(def 3), synthetic(def 3).
of or relating to polysynthesism.
Sometimes pol·y·syn·thet·i·cal.

Origin of polysynthetic

1795–1805; < Late Greek polysýnthet(os) much compounded + -ic. See poly-, synthetic

Words nearby polysynthetic

polysymbrachydactyly, polysynaptic, polysyndactyly, polysyndeton, polysynthesism, polysynthetic, polytechnic, polytendinitis, polytene, polytene chromosome, polytetrafluoroethylene

Example sentences from the Web for polysynthetic

British Dictionary definitions for polysynthetic

polysynthetic
/ (ˌpɒlɪsɪnˈθɛtɪk) /

adjective

denoting languages, such as Inuktitut, in which single words may express the meaning of whole phrases or clauses by virtue of multiple affixes Compare synthetic (def. 3), analytic (def. 3), agglutinative (def. 2)

Derived forms of polysynthetic

polysynthesis (ˌpɒlɪˈsɪnθɪsɪs), noun polysynthesism, noun polysynthetically, adverb