| systematic | 1. <biology> Pertaining or according to a system. 2. <study> Systematics is the science of naming and classifying organisms in regard to their natural relationships, deals with populations, species and higher taxa. See: taxonomy. Origin: Gr. Systematikos (09 Jan 1998) |
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| systematic anatomy | A description of, especially a treatise describing, physical structure, more particularly that of man. Synonym: systematic anatomy. (05 Mar 2000) |
| systematic desensitization | A type of behaviour therapy for eliminating phobias or anxieties: the patient and therapist construct a list of imagined scenes eliciting the phobia, ranked from least to most anxiety-producing; the patient then is trained in deep muscle relaxation, and is repeatedly asked to imagine himself in the presence of the least anxiety-producing scene on the list until he feels fully relaxed while doing so; the procedure is repeated for each scene on the list until the patient develops the capacity to feel relaxed with any of the anxiety-producing scenes; real life scenes are then substituted for the imagined scenes. Synonym: reciprocal inhibition. (05 Mar 2000) |
| systematic name | As applied to chemical substances, a systematic name is composed of specially coined or selected words or syllables, each of which has a precisely defined chemical structural meaning, so that the structure may be derived from the name. Water (trivial name) is hydrogen oxide (systematic). The systematic name of histamine (a semisystematic name) is imidazolethylamine, which indicates that a radical of imidazole replaces one hydrogen atom of ethylamine, which in turn is an ethyl group attached to an amine group. Dimethyl sulfoxide states that two methyl radicals are attached to a sulfur atom that holds an oxygen atom. Carbolic acid (trivial name) or phenol (semisystematic name) are, systematically, phenyl hydroxide or hydroxybenzene. See: semisystematic name. (05 Mar 2000) |
| systematical | 1. Of or pertaining to system; consisting in system; methodical; formed with regular connection and adaptation or subordination of parts to each other, and to the design of the whole; as, a systematic arrangement of plants or animals; a systematic course of study. "Now we deal much in essays, and unreasonably despise systematical learning; whereas our fathers had a just value for regularity and systems." (I. Watts) "A representation of phenomena, in order to answer the purposes of science, must be systematic." (Whewell) 2. Proceeding according to system, or regular method; as, a systematic writer; systematic benevolence. 3. Pertaining to the system of the world; cosmical. "These ends may be called cosmical, or systematical." (Boyle) 4. <medicine> Affecting successively the different parts of the system or set of nervous fibres; as, systematic degeneration. Systematic theology. See Theology. Origin: Gr., cf. F. Systematique. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |