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What is the difference between organic and synthetic?

organic | synthetic |

In chemistry terms the difference between organic and synthetic

is that organic is an organic compound while synthetic is produced by synthesis instead of being isolated from a natural source (but may be identical to a product so obtained).

organic

Alternative forms

* organick (obsolete)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (biology) pertaining to or derived from living organisms.
  • pertaining to an organ of the body of a living organism.
  • (chemistry) relating to the compounds of carbon, relating to natural products
  • of food or food products, grown in an environment free from artificial agrichemicals, and possibly certified by a regulatory body.
  • (sociology) describing a form of social solidarity theorized by Emile Durkheim that is characterized by voluntary engagements in complex interdepencies for mutual benefit (such as business agreements), rather than mechanical solidarity, which depends on ascribed relations between people (as in a family or tribe).
  • (military) Of a military unit or formation, or its elements, belonging to a permanent organization (in contrast to being temporarily attached).
  • * 1998 : Eyal Ben-Ari, Mastering Soldiers: Conflict, Emotions, and the Enemy in an Israeli Military Unit . Beghahn Books, p 29.
  • ''Socially, the term “organic ” unit implies a military force characterized by relatively high cohesion, overlapping primary groups and a certain sense of shared past.
  • * 1945 : U.S. War Department, Handbook on German Military Forces . LSU Press (1990). p 161.
  • Most types of German field divisions include an organic reconnaissance battalion, and the remainder have strong reconnaissance companies.
  • Instrumental; acting as instruments of nature or of art to a certain destined function or end.
  • * Milton
  • those organic arts which enable men to discourse and write perspicuously
  • (Internet, of search results) Generated according to the ranking algorithms of a search engine, as opposed to paid placement by advertisers.
  • * 2008 , Michael Masterson, MaryEllen Tribby, Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business
  • According to a recent survey by Jupiter Research, 80 percent of Web users get information from organic search results.

    Coordinate terms

    * (chemistry) inorganic

    Derived terms

    * organic agriculture * organic chemistry * organic forestry * organic intellectual * organicness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (chemistry) An organic compound
  • See also

    * inorganic

    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. }}