artificial versus synthetic

English translation: Synonyms

12:10 Mar 18, 2002
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Textiles / Clothing / Fashion / textiles
English term or phrase: artificial versus synthetic
Can anyone explain the difference between an artificial fibre and a synthetic fibre please?
Thank you.
AnneM (X)
Local time: 13:45
Selected answer:Synonyms
Explanation:
To put it simply, artificial is anything that is made by man rather than Mother Nature. Synthetic is also something man-made, but it refers more specifically to chemical (or intellectual) synthesis. Thus an item carved from wood would be artificial, while a new type of artificially produced fuel would be synthetic.

Hope this helps... at least I now have a better understanding of this :-)

Webster:

ar·ti·fi·cial
Pronunciation: "är-t&-'fi-sh&l
Function: adjective
Date: 14th century
1 : humanly contrived often on a natural model : MAN-MADE <an artificial limb> <artificial diamonds>

syn·thet·ic
Pronunciation: sin-'the-tik
Function: adjective
Etymology: Greek synthetikos of composition, component, from syntithenai to put together
Date: 1697

4 a (1) : of, relating to, or produced by chemical or biochemical synthesis; especially : produced artificially <synthetic drugs> <synthetic silk> (2) : of or relating to a synfuel b : devised, arranged, or fabricated for special situations to imitate or replace usual realities
Selected response from:

Yuri Geifman
Canada
Local time: 08:45
Grading comment
Thank you very much Yuri and everybody else for their excellent efforts. I didn't actually need to choose between the two as both appear in my translation but my curiosity was piqued.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +6Synonyms
Yuri Geifman
4 +2As follows:
AhmedAMS
4 +1åùå îäèí àñïåêò óïîòðåáëåíèÿ
Tatiana Neroni (X)
4artificial and synthetic
Ligia Dias Costa


  

Answers


16 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +6
Synonyms


Explanation:
To put it simply, artificial is anything that is made by man rather than Mother Nature. Synthetic is also something man-made, but it refers more specifically to chemical (or intellectual) synthesis. Thus an item carved from wood would be artificial, while a new type of artificially produced fuel would be synthetic.

Hope this helps... at least I now have a better understanding of this :-)

Webster:

ar·ti·fi·cial
Pronunciation: "är-t&-'fi-sh&l
Function: adjective
Date: 14th century
1 : humanly contrived often on a natural model : MAN-MADE <an artificial limb> <artificial diamonds>

syn·thet·ic
Pronunciation: sin-'the-tik
Function: adjective
Etymology: Greek synthetikos of composition, component, from syntithenai to put together
Date: 1697

4 a (1) : of, relating to, or produced by chemical or biochemical synthesis; especially : produced artificially <synthetic drugs> <synthetic silk> (2) : of or relating to a synfuel b : devised, arranged, or fabricated for special situations to imitate or replace usual realities



    Reference: http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary
Yuri Geifman
Canada
Local time: 08:45
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you very much Yuri and everybody else for their excellent efforts. I didn't actually need to choose between the two as both appear in my translation but my curiosity was piqued.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Margaret Lagoyianni
1 min

agree  VERTERE
9 mins

agree  Yolanda Morato
44 mins

agree  Tatiana Neroni (X)
4 hrs

agree  John Kinory (X): Yes - because synthetic refers to composition
5 hrs

agree  AhmedAMS
1 day 2 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

19 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
artificial and synthetic


Explanation:
a synthectic fibre is an artificial fibre. However the reverse is not true. I.E. a plastic fibre is artificial but not synthetic.

Do you get the idea?

Ligia Dias Costa
Portugal
Local time: 12:45
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Yolanda Morato
41 mins

disagree  John Kinory (X): A plastic fibre is synthetic - see Yuri's answer
5 hrs
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34 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
As follows:


Explanation:
Artificial means “made or produced by human beings, rather than natural.”
It could also mean “made in imitation of something natural”.
Example: Artificial silk versus natural silk.

Synthetic element is a coherent element resulting from the combination of separate substances.

Since that producing artificial materials implies some sort of chemical treatment (to imitate the natural materials), artificial materials could be further identified as synthetic materials.
Thus, you can use either artificial fiber or synthetic fiber to refer any unnatural fiber.


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Note added at 2002-03-18 12:49:43 (GMT)
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Please refer to this web site:
http://www.wepan.org/pdf/fabrics_7_8.pdf

AhmedAMS
Russian Federation
Local time: 16:45
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  John Kinory (X)
5 hrs
  -> Thank you

agree  Theodore Fink
7 hrs
  -> Thank you
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
åùå îäèí àñïåêò óïîòðåáëåíèÿ


Explanation:
Ñîãëàñíà ñî âñåìè ðàçëè÷èÿìè, ïðåäëîæåííûìè ïðåäûäóùèìè îòâå÷àþùèìè, õîòåëà ïðåäëîæèòü åùå îäíî.

Ìîæíî ñêàçàòü "artificial smile" - íàòÿíóòàÿ óëûáêà (Webster äàåò òðåòüèì çíà÷åíèåì - unnatural in an affected way...

Íåëüçÿ ñêàçàòü "synthetic smile".

Artificial óïîòðåáëÿåòñÿ åùå è â ïåðåíîñíîì çíà÷åíèè.

Synthetic - àáñîëþòíî êîíêðåòíîå ïîíÿòèå, íå ïðèðîäà ñîçäàëà, ÷åëîâåê ñäåëàë ñ ïîìîùüþ õèì. èëè äðóãîé òåõíîëîãèè. Ïðàâäà, òîò æå Webster äàåò è çíà÷åíèå not genuine, artificial, íî synthetic smile - íå ñëûøàëà, ÷òîáû ãîâîðèëè è íå âèäåëà, ÷òîáû ïèñàëè.

Synthetic, ñ äðóãîé ñòîðîíû, îòëè÷àåòñÿ îò artificial åùå è äðóãèì çíà÷åíèåì.

Åñëè Âû ñêàæåòå artificial languages - ýòî îçíà÷àåò ÷òî-òî òèïà Ýñïåðàíòî, ìàøèííîãî ÿçûêà è ò.ä. - ñîçäàííîå ÷åëîâåêîì íå íà ïðîòÿæåíèè âåêîâîé èñòîðèè (åñòåñòâåííî), à áûñòðî, ñïåöèàëüíî äëÿ êàêîé-òî öåëè, êàê êîíñòðóêòîð.

Synthetic language - àáñîëþòíî äðóãîå çíà÷åíèå, ÿçûê, èñïîëüçóþùèé äëÿ ñâÿçè ñëîâ â ïðåäëîæåíèè ôëåêñèè âìåñòî ïîðÿäêà ñëîâ (ñîîòâ., è ñèñòåìó ñêëîíåíèé).

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Note added at 2002-03-18 14:49:26 (GMT)
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OH SORRY!!!

Didn\'t notice it\'s monolingual!!

Same in English:

1/ Artificial smile (figurative sense) - Webster gives it as \"unnatural in an affected way\".

You don\'t say \"synthetic smile\". Although Webster gives a meaning for \"synthetic\" - not genuine, artificial. Still, didn\'t see it used in the figurative sense same as \"artificial\".

2/ Artificial languages - \"man-made\" languages. Of course, all of them are man-made, but over the course of centuries, here what it means is something like Esperanto, machine language etc. - something people created quickly, for a specific purpose, using what they THINK are rules of constructing the language. Artificial language is a language which did not evolve naturally - which was created as a Lego set, as a project, on purpose.

Now, \"synthetic language\" as opposed to \"analytical language\" - is a language using flexions (and, consequently, a system of declensions) instead of word order to construct sentences.

Again, SINCERE APOLOGIES for not noticing immediately it\'s a monolingual question! A sleepless night with a crying baby doesn\'t help...

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Note added at 2002-03-18 14:56:15 (GMT)
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Forgot a conclusion, of course :).

These meanings (as other answerers correctly stated) are overlapping in a lot of aspects of usage.

Their usage is different in the aforementioned cases (maybe, somebody will think up of some more).

But it\'s not a very big distinction. These two words are synonyms (see Yuri\'s explanation), but not complete synonyms. As most of the synonym pairs, they differ from one another in shades of meaning. I found the two differing shades of meaning supra...

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Note added at 2002-03-18 18:18:51 (GMT)
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In answer to the question: How does it compare to the fibres? In no way.

The assignment was to compare two words (with a certain context given). Yuri absolutely correctly stated that those words are synonyms.

Synonyms (by definition) are words, the meanings of which are close, sometimes overlapping, but differing in certain nuances and shades.

The analyses of the differences as related to the context was done before me, and there was no point to second-guess or duplicate what other people have correctly said.

I\'m in this forum not to \"strike points\", but to render help and receive help when I need it.

Guided by this rationale, I figured that when doing the comparison analysis of two synonyms, we could just as well make this analysis complete, so that we shouldn\'t return to this same subject again, only address other aspects of it - doing it in \"patchwork fashion\".

The points that I have made certainly DO NOT RELATE TO FIBRES, and in that John Kinory is absolutely correct.

But, I believe that Yuri (who was the first to answer this question, and who answered it absolutely correctly and to the point - and in a context-relevant manner, too) obviously understood my rationale when he generously peer-graded me \"agree\".

Again, I\'m not competing for points here. I have all the work I need outside ProZ, but I consider ProZ an invaluable source of advice, and that\'s why I try to give advice as generously as my peers are always giving it to me. And here I just added to the comparison to make the analysis complete, nothing more, nothing else.

Fibres can rest in peace...

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Note added at 2002-03-18 18:21:04 (GMT)
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Typo - \"Nothing more, nothing less\".

Tatiana Neroni (X)

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Yuri Geifman: very good point
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Yuri!

neutral  John Kinory (X): How is this relevant to fibres?
3 hrs
  -> In no way, naturally.
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