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analyze

/ˈænəlaɪz//ˈænəlaɪz/·verb
to examine something by breaking it into its parts and seeing how they relate
Fig. 1 — A single beam leaves the lamp and crosses the bench as one plain line of light.
01Definition

To analyze is to take a whole apart on purpose — to separate a text, a dataset, or a substance into its components so each can be examined and the relations between them seen. The word is Greek at heart: analusis, 'a loosening up', and the loosening is the method. A chemist analyzes a sample into what it contains; a critic analyzes how a poem produces its effect. Its exact opposite lives on this site too: to synthesize is to build a new whole from parts — analysis takes the watch apart, synthesis builds one.

02In use
  • iThe lab will analyze the water for traces of lead and pesticide.
  • iiBefore you argue, analyze the claim: what is it assuming, and what would refute it?
  • iiiEconomists analyze decades of price data to separate the trend from the noise.
03Collocations
  • analyze the data
  • analyze the results
  • analyze the causes
  • carefully analyze
  • analyze in depth

Family analysis (noun) · analytical (adjective) · analyst (noun)

04Relations

=examine, dissect, scrutinize, evaluate, interpret

≠synthesize, summarize

06TOEFL & IELTS

The TOEFL integrated tasks are analysis tests in disguise: they reward breaking the lecture and reading into parts and showing how they relate, and 'analyze the data/results/causes' is core collocation territory in both exams. Two traps under time pressure: the noun is analysis (plural analyses — no 'analysises'), and the verb is spelled analyze in American English but analyse in British — unlike the -ise/-ize verbs, 'analyze' is never standard in the UK. Front stress on the verb: AN-uh-lize.

07Asked
Is it analyse or analyze?
Analyze is American, analyse British — and unlike the -ise/-ize pairs, this one has no overlap: 'analyze' is not standard anywhere in British English, and 'analyse' is wrong in American English. The same split runs through the family: paralyse/paralyze, catalyse/catalyze. The noun, though, is analysis in both varieties, which is why the -yse/-yze choice only ever shows on the verb.
What is the plural of analysis?
Analyses — the Greek pattern that swaps -is for -es: one analysis, two analyses, exactly like crisis/crises and hypothesis/hypotheses. 'Analysises' is always wrong. The catch in British writing is that 'analyses' is also the third-person verb form ('she analyses data'), so the same letters serve two jobs; only context — and pronunciation — tells them apart.
How do you pronounce analyses (plural) versus analyzes (verb)?
The noun plural is uh-NAL-uh-seez, /əˈnæləsiːz/ — stress on the second syllable, long final -seez. The verb form is AN-uh-lize-iz, /ˈænəlaɪzɪz/ — stress up front, like the base verb. So 'the analyses' and 'she analyses' look identical in British spelling but sound different, and saying the plural with front stress is the classic learner slip.
What does it mean to analyze something in an essay?
To go past reporting into explanation: a summary says what the text says; an analysis says how and why it works — the assumptions, the evidence, the moves. In the scene above, the prism does to light what an essay's analysis does to an argument: one apparently simple thing is separated into components you can point at. If your paragraph could be written without asking why, it is summary, not analysis.
What is the difference between analyzing and summarizing?
A summary condenses — same content, fewer words, no new claims. An analysis decomposes — it breaks the material into parts and says something about them: which assumption carries the weight, which evidence is thin, how the parts interact. Graders of academic writing read summary as comprehension and analysis as thinking; the reliable tell is whether your sentences could survive attached to any competent reading, or only to yours.
Is it 'to analysis' or 'to analyze' the data?
To analyze — analysis is the noun, and using it as a verb ('to analysis the data') is one of the commonest slips in learner drafts. The boundary is the -ze/-sis swap: you analyze the data, then present an analysis of it. The rest of the family behaves itself: analytical is the adjective ('analytical skills'), analyst the person, and neither ever conjugates.
What is the difference between analyzing and synthesizing?
They pull in opposite directions: analysis resolves material into its elements, synthesis builds something new out of elements. The essay rule of thumb is sequence — analyze your sources first, then synthesize a position — so that the claim you assemble stands on parts you have actually examined.