system

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A group or set of related things that operate together as a complex whole.

   “Every age has its characteristic, and our present one is not behind its predecessors in that respect; it is the age of systems, every system enforced by a treatise. The politician who opposes the corn-laws and advocates free trade, does so on a system, which, as soon as it begins to work, will set the civilized world to rights.”

   “The bass and treble clefs combined, include all the sounds belonging to our musical system, as they appear on a 6½-octave pianoforte, extending from C C C in the bass to F in altissimo.”

   “Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A group or set of related things that operate together as a complex whole.

   “WIPO [the World Intellectual Property Organization] reported that China had 17 of the top 20 academic organizations filing for AI-related patents. It noted China was especially strong in the fast-growing area of "deep learning." This is a machine learning method that includes speech and facial recognition systems.”

3. (countable, uncountable)A group or set of related things that operate together as a complex whole.

   “The method of solving systems of equations by matrices that we will look at is based on procedures involving equations that we are familiar with from previous mathematics courses. The main idea is to reduce a given system of equations to another simpler system that has the same solutions.”

4. (countable, uncountable)A group or set of related things that operate together as a complex whole.
5. (countable, uncountable)A group or set of related things that operate together as a complex whole.

   “the digestive system  the nervous system”

   “Animals have evolved a variety of digestive systems to utilise fibre. The kangaroos have evolved a digestive system that has much in common with those found in ruminant mammals from other continents, but there are also unique features.”

6. (countable, uncountable)A group or set of related things that operate together as a complex whole.

   “But that alter often turns out to be relatively recent and fairly peripheral in the multiple's total system of alters.”

   “Rosie's courage allowed her to engage with me quickly and soon provided reassurance to others in the system that I was safe and non-abusive. Soon after, a number of other alters made themselves known to me. […] I was initially very worried that I would offend the system by missing when switches occurred, or even misidentify who was present with me.”

7. (countable, uncountable)A group or set of related things that operate together as a complex whole.

   “There are eight planets in the solar system.”

   “Yukawa is a small rock planet with a thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide. After a labor dispute with companies shipping metallic asteroids to the nearby Arcturus system, Yukawa's iron core and blanket of hematite were briefly mined to aid in the construction of Arcturus Station.”

8. (countable, uncountable)A group or set of related things that operate together as a complex whole.

   “In the footnote attached to this statement Rosen refers to the “hypnotic” quality of Kojève’s system.”

9. (capitalized, countable, derogatory, often, uncountable)A group or set of related things that operate together as a complex whole.

   “Meronyms: the man, yes men, elephant in the room, emperor's new clothes, Leviathan, Big Brother”

   ““Overwork started his illness, kept it alight, and killed him, poor devil. Write him off to the System - one man to do the work of two-and-a-half men.””

   “Some had already been incarcerated for several months awaiting trial, and some were being returned to their cells at Long Bay to wait several months longer ere they would have an` opportunity of disproving the allegations against them. Such mockery of justice is allowed by the all-powerful "system".”

   “Don't want to grow old too fast / Don't want to let the system get me down / I've got to find a way to make the good times last / And if you'll show me how, I'm ready now”

10. (countable, uncountable)A group or set of related things that operate together as a complex whole.
11. (countable, uncountable)A group or set of related things that operate together as a complex whole.

    “The capitalist system”

12. (countable, uncountable)A method or way of organizing or planning.

    “Followers should have a system to follow that works in their interests, not against them.”

    “But ſo Matters fell out, and ſo I muſt relate them; and if any Reader is ſhocked at their appearing unnatural, I cannot help it. I must remind ſuch Persons, that I am not writing a Syſtem, but a Hiſtory, and I am not obliged to reconcile every Matter to the received Notions concerning Truth and Nature.”

    “As we passed along, the party of Too-wit (the whole hundred and ten savages of the canoes) was momentarily strengthened by smaller detachments, of from two to six or seven, which joined us, as if by accident, at different turns in the road. There appeared so much of system in this that I could not help feeling distrust, and I spoke to Captain Guy of my apprehensions.”

    “As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could.”

    “He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record. With this biological framework in place, [Peter] Corning endeavors to show that the capitalist system as currently practiced in the United States and elsewhere is manifestly unfair.”