synergistic, a.
(sɪnəˈdʒɪstɪk)
[f. prec. + -ic.]
1. Theol. Of or pertaining to synergism or the synergists.
| 1818 Todd. 1839 Hallam Lit. Eur. iii. ii. §32 Melanchthon espoused the synergistic doctrine. 1864 Shedd Hist. Chr. Doctrine II. iv. ii. 40 Chrysostom's theory of regeneration was firmly synergistic. |
2. Med. and Physiol. Of a substance or procedure: Co-operating with another; exhibiting synergism or synergy.
| 1876 Bartholow Mat. Med. (1888) 136 Synergists. All agents promoting constructive metamorphosis are synergistic to iron. 1962 New Scientist 10 May 263/2 Fucidin is ‘synergistic’ with penicillin and erythromycin—that is, the activity of a mixture is greater than the sum of the individual antibiotics. 1976 Sci. Amer. Feb. p. iv/2 (Advt.), The synergistic effect of mixing finely divided titanium dioxide with opacifying dyes permitted us to use a lesser quantity of dyes than if we had used the dyes alone. |
3. gen. Co-operative, interacting, mutually stimulating.
| 1965 H. I. Ansoff Corporate Strategy v. 76 This step certainly provides for some of the synergistic interactions. Ibid. 83 The synergistic effect can be measured in either of two ways. 1970 Nature 26 Dec. 1261/2 The synergistic creativity of Wordsworth and Coleridge which produced The Lyrical Ballads in 1798 and began the romantic movement in poetry was over by 1805. 1972 M. Crichton Terminal Man i. iii. 30 Designing electronic components to be synergistic with the human brain. 1975 J. A. Argüelles Transformative Vision i. 7 The ancient t'ai-chi of the Chinese..symbolizes not only the synergistic totality of the two modes of consciousness, but also the interaction of day and night, life and death [etc.]. 1980 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts July 497/2 It was intended that..it should consider the synergistic interactions between the different factors. |
So synerˈgistical a. (= sense 1); also synerˈgistically adv.
| 1657 Gaule Sap. Just. 5 The Synergistical and the Anabaptistical way of understanding it. 1764 A. Maclaine tr. Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. Cent. xvi. iii. ii. i. §30 (1833) 488/1 The synergistical controversy. 1772 Tucker Apol. Ch. Eng. (ed. 2) 60 note, The Saxon Divines, with Melancthon at their Head,..adopted another System, viz. The Synergistical. 1876 Bartholow Mat. Med. (1879) 502 Combination with agents acting synergistically, as oil of cubebs and sandal-wood. 1968 N.Y. Times 8 Jan. 141 By this he meant that science and technology had come to the point where the parts fed upon each other continuously and synergistically to enlarge the whole. 1979 Logophile II. v. 8/2 Do the ‘principles of acceptance’ identified in this study operate synergistically? |