What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Leather vs Synthetic - What's the difference?

leather | synthetic |

As nouns the difference between leather and synthetic

is that leather is a tough material produced from the skin of animals, by tanning or similar process, used eg for clothing while synthetic is a synthetic compound.

As adjectives the difference between leather and synthetic

is that leather is made of leather while synthetic is of, or relating to synthesis.

As a verb leather

is to cover with leather.

leather

English

(wikipedia leather)

Noun

  • A tough material produced from the skin of animals, by tanning or similar process, used e.g. for clothing.
  • A piece of the above used for polishing.
  • (colloquial) A cricket ball or football.
  • (plural : leathers ) clothing made from the skin of animals, often worn by motorcycle riders.
  • (baseball) A good defensive play
    • Jones showed good leather to snare that liner.
  • (dated, humorous) The skin.

    • Hyponyms

    (types of leather) chagrin, cordovan, cordwain, galuchat, maroquin, morocco, morocco leather, shagreen, sharkskin

    Derived terms

    *stirrup leather : the strap which hangs the stirrup from the saddle.

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Made of leather.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.
  • Referring to one who wears leather clothing (motorcycle jacket, chaps over 501 jeans, boots), especially as a sign of sadomasochistic homosexuality.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cover with leather.
  • To strike forcefully.
    • He leathered the ball all the way down the street.

    Derived terms

    * hell-for-leather * leatherback * leatherette * leatherhead * leatherjacket * leather jacket * leather-lunged * leathern * leathery * wash-leather

    Anagrams

    * * *

    synthetic

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of, or relating to synthesis.
  • (chemistry) Produced by synthesis instead of being isolated from a natural source (but may be identical to a product so obtained).
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= A new prescription , passage=As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.}}
  • Artificial, not genuine.
  • (grammar) Pertaining to the joining of bound morphemes in a word. Compare analytic.

    • Derived terms

    * nucleosynthetic * syntheticism

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A synthetic compound.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2007, date=January 14, author=Elsa Brenner, title=Art House to Get a Campus, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=Only plastics and synthetics that cannot be recycled will end up in landfills, he said. }}