Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.
  • noun Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.
  • noun An instance of either such interaction.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A correlation or concourse of action between different organs.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Med.) Combined action.
  • noun An effect of the interaction of the actions of two agents such that the result of the combined action is greater than expected as a simple additive combination of the two agents acting separately; -- also called synergism.. Opposite to antagonism.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Behavior of a system that cannot be predicted by the behavior of its parts.
  • noun medicine Combined action; the combined healthy action of every organ of a particular system; as, the digestive synergy.
  • noun pharmacology An interaction between drugs where the effects are stronger than their mere sum.
  • noun Benefits resulting from combining two different groups, people, objects or processes.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the working together of two things (muscles or drugs for example) to produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Greek sunergiā, cooperation, from sunergos, working together; see synergism.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek συνεργία (sunergia, "joint work, assistance, help"), from συνεργός (sunergos, "working together"), from σύν (sun, "together") + ἔργον (ergon, "work").

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Examples

Comments

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  • this word is absolutey meaningless nowadays. it takes the worst of politics and makes it sound pseudo-scientific. completely empty and devoid of meaning. if synergy were a person i would kick his/her ass.

    March 22, 2007

  • I agree, but it seems to be one of my boss's favorite words, so I must put up with it.

    March 22, 2007

  • Ditto here. I used to *like* the word. Now I practically wince when I hear it. Sigh....

    March 26, 2007

  • (n): a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings).

    This definition is a nonsense. It's logic has the assumption that human beings are not a part of nature. Human beings are a part of nature and if human beings intend something then it follows that it exists in or is produced by nature. Goodnight.

    August 23, 2008

  • n. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.

    June 7, 2015