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system
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
system
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a class system/structure (=a social system that has classes)
▪ He felt he was a victim of the class system.
a communication system
▪ The natural communication system for humans is speech.
a computer system
▪ Our office is installing a new computer system.
a defence system (=a system of people, organizations etc to defend a country)
▪ Is the national defence system adequate?
a form/method/system of communication (=something you use to exchange information)
▪ At university, lectures are the main form of communication.
a heating system
▪ The gas leak was caused by a faulty heating system.
a political system
▪ Our political system should give ordinary citizens more power.
a security system (=a system of cameras, alarms etc to provide security)
▪ The first stage would be to install security systems and adequate lighting in churches.
a shift system (=a system in which people work shifts)
▪ A shift system was introduced in the department last year.
abuse...system
▪ people who abuse the system
an alarm system
▪ an electronic burglar alarm system
an effective system
▪ The country has a simple but effective welfare system.
an efficient system
▪ We need a more efficient system for collecting money.
an incentive scheme/system
▪ The incentive scheme was introduced to encourage companies to use renewable energy sources.
anti-lock braking system
BAE Systems
be a shock to the system (=be strange because you are not used to something)
▪ Having to work full-time again was quite a shock to the system.
bucked...system (=opposed rules or authority)
▪ He was a rebel who bucked the system.
buddy system
central nervous system
coding system
▪ A coding system is used to record what is found and when.
complex system
▪ a complex system of highways
computerized system
▪ a computerized system for compiling the weekly charts of record sales
cooling system
▪ a fault in the power station’s cooling system
criminal justice system
▪ a book on the criminal justice system
database system/software/application etc
devise a system
▪ How do you devise a system of testing students that is completely fair?
digestive system/organs/juices etc
dual system
▪ a dual system of education
electoral system
▪ Our electoral system strongly favours two-party government.
expert system
frontal system
hierarchical structure/organization/system etc
▪ a hierarchical society
honor system
immune system
▪ My immune system is not as strong as it ought to be.
legal system
▪ the British legal system
legal system
▪ the Scottish legal system
life support system
metric system
nervous system
one-way system
▪ the town’s one-way system
open system
operating system
public-address system
rapid transit system
reproductive system
▪ the human reproductive system
solar system
sound system
subway system
▪ Boston has the oldest subway system in the US.
system administrator
system tray
systems analyst
the criminal justice system
▪ How effective is our criminal justice system?
the economic system (=the way in which the economy of a country or area is organized)
▪ There are fears that the country’s whole economic system could collapse.
the education system (=the way education is organized and managed in a country)
▪ Is the British education system failing some children?
the jury system
▪ The government proposed changes to the jury system.
the rail network/system (=the system of railway lines in a country)
▪ The government has spent £2 billion on improving the country's rail network.
the transport system
▪ We will create a better, more integrated transport system.
turnkey systems
▪ the development and sale of turnkey systems for telecommunications customers
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
central
▪ The taser fires a two-pronged dart that overrides the central nervous system and causes uncontrollable muscle contractions.
▪ A large-scale brain behavior, the central dopaminergic system, has been modeled by King et al { 60 }.
Central reservation systems Large groups of hotels which are linked by computer usually operate their own central reservation system.
▪ The central nervous system appears to be the pre-eminent instrument that has been designed for this function in the course of evolution.
▪ The updated file can then be copied back to the central system, by modem and telephone if necessary.
▪ First, since nicotine is a central nervous system stimulant, it produces almost the same effects on the body as caffeine.
▪ What I have been referring to vaguely as the knowledge system, Fodor calls the central systems.
▪ Thus the eye exists in a body with a central nervous system, capable of reacting to information the eye provides.
complex
▪ In all institutions complex social systems flourished, based on close emotional, homosexual relationships.
▪ But after a summer in Trinidad, he realized he had only scratched the surface of the eclectic and complex belief system.
▪ The constant risk from this radiation means that a complex system of precautions has to be maintained around every nuclear power site.
▪ As with any complex electronic information system or service, a strong support structure can make an enormous difference in customer satisfaction.
▪ Now the whole complex underground system is interlocked and related, and meticulously mapped.
▪ In complex systems a small alteration in the initial conditions can amplify into wide-ranging effects throughout the rest of the system.
▪ It has a complex tunnel system built along the banks of slow moving waterways with many exits above and below water level.
▪ A complex system can not die simply.
criminal
▪ Meanwhile, prison conditions have deteriorated and the public has lost confidence in the criminal justice system.
▪ It is difficult to dispute the fact that race does make a significant difference in the criminal justice system.
▪ Weare aware that he had failings and would have expected him to be dealt with and punished in the criminal justice system.
▪ Each was a serious impediment to an evenhanded and effective operation of the criminal justice system....
▪ The first was due process in procedure, and the general limitation of official discretion within the criminal justice system.
▪ The result is that the criminal justice system itself is now on trial.
▪ Any law which directly or indirectly discourages the publication of views from within the criminal justice system must be viewed with suspicion.
▪ They belong in the criminal justice system.
economic
▪ No one expects an economic system to produce absolute justice.
▪ As cities and their monetary systems organized further into city-states and then into nations, an economic system called mercantilism developed.
▪ In systems connected loosely, such as ecosystems, economic systems, and cultural systems, a less structured adaptation takes place.
▪ Thus a major function of the economic system is the production of food and shelter.
▪ They are the forces driving the economic system in new directions.
▪ The changes, therefore, add up to a different kind of economic system.
▪ The agreement also ensured that the skewed economic and social system would continue, as well as the neoliberal economic policies.
electoral
▪ Plurality electoral systems tend to produce two identifiable blocs while majority run-off elections tend to produce more fragmented support.
▪ This electoral college system must be scrapped.
▪ I can't believe that it will remain unrepresented if and when the electoral system becomes proportional.
▪ The Liberal Democrats see local government as an extension of their ideas about representation and democracy and changing the electoral system.
▪ Will a new electoral system eventually be put to the test of a referendum?
▪ We will continue to encourage a wide and well-informed public debate on the electoral system.
▪ Here I propose to confine my discussion to the contemporary debate surrounding the electoral system as an electoral system.
▪ The selection of candidates Under any electoral system nomination as a candidate can often be tantamount to a guarantee of eventual election.
expert
▪ What is certain is that expert systems increased the competitiveness of those companies who implemented them.
▪ One solution is to embed your neural network in an expert system.
▪ In other words, the expert system techniques had to integrate with existing conventional software.
▪ Users quickly surpassed the knowledge of the expert system.
▪ Advanced expert systems provide a means to significantly improve performance in each of these important areas.
▪ Personally, we would not consider delivering a neural network unless it was embedded in an expert system.
▪ The inexperienced technicians also employed a standard diagnostic approach as a result of using the expert system.
▪ These approaches produced successes, and the subfield of expert systems became commercially viable.
immune
▪ The body's first line of protection against environmental stimuli is effected through the defence or immune system.
▪ People with normal, healthy immune systems generally can fight off enterococcus without drugs, and might not even feel sick.
▪ All allergies are inappropriate responses by the body's immune system to a substance which is not normally harmful.
▪ She made me feel better by suggesting that allergies may be a sign of the strength of one's immune system.
▪ It may be that most of the time our immune system is able to control the development of abnormal cells.
▪ Qigong is said to improve the immune system and restore physical energy.
▪ For instance, one medication, derived from bitter almonds, claims to boost the immune system.
▪ Infections in the bloodstream, urinary tract or lungs usually are dangerous only to people with other illnesses and weakened immune systems.
legal
▪ They thought a redesigned legal system might constrain the civil service and protect their economic interests.
▪ But this bill would hurt families without truly improving our legal system.
▪ They have the political power, they establish and run the legal system.
▪ And we must maintain confidence in our legal system.
▪ Barriers arising from the disparities between national legal systems.
▪ Mr Menendez, from New Jersey, was on a six-day visit to examine the legal system.
▪ The legal systems that govern the buying and selling of property differ widely around the world.
nervous
▪ But drinking too much over a period of months or years damages far more than the nervous system.
▪ Schemata are not physical objects; they are viewed as processes within the nervous system.
▪ All these are degenerative diseases of the central nervous system.
▪ There is a natural physical tendency to avoid activities that our nervous system tells us are difficult.
▪ The basis of these unities does not seem to lie within the nervous system as it is currently conceived.
▪ Sometimes, however, it moves from there to the bloodstream and thus finds the nervous system, where it does damage.
▪ In particular, the capacity of central nervous system centres to influence liver function has not been evaluated.
new
▪ A new feature provides system administration from all Co-operation domains, whether local or remote, to facilitate large installation.
▪ The new Nintendo system uses a 64-bit processor, while the Saturn and Playstation are 32-bit systems.
▪ The new system would require infants to travel in seats equipped with a child-restraint system.
▪ All existing and new systems need to be documented.
▪ Rousseau introduced a new moral system, which was in essence a reiteration of ideas already set forth by Shaftesbury and Pope.
▪ The specifications were sent to seven suppliers who were invited to bid for the installation of a new system.
▪ The new rating system will be incorporated in television listings starting Jan. 1.
open
▪ The company has developed open systems for resellers and end users since its formation in 1986.
▪ Most people provide small items set out on an open plan system, which gives the children a great deal of choice.
▪ By comparison, social class, the system of stratification in capitalist industrial society, provides an example of an open system.
▪ Unicenter is an open systems equivalent to its current mainframe software for data centre management.
▪ As for open systems, Bonfield said that 85% of all the group's products now come under this category.
▪ This infusion rate was needed to maintain a constant baseline pressure within the open biliary system.
▪ In the post-GATT world of liberalised trade we must encourage our efficient producers to compete in a more open world trading system.
political
▪ Alternative Concepts of Accountability Public accountability is a essential component for the functioning of our political system.
▪ Can you characterize your own political belief system?
▪ Food also provides pleasure and social interaction; it dominates world economies and political systems.
▪ Its political system was not foisted upon it by an outside power like the Soviet Union.
▪ Such integration may be seen as reinforcing an allegiant rather than a neutral or alienated orientation to the political system.
▪ The parochial expects nothing from the political system.
▪ This is not to say that absolutely no general trends are discernible in the development of political systems.
▪ Hybrid Systems An increasing number of political systems attempts to blend desirable aspects of both the presidential and the cabinet systems.
public
▪ But what of the very idea of advertising in a public service system?
▪ But the proposals were rejected by Democratic legislators, who said the underfunded public school system would lose too much money.
▪ His own followers cheered him repeatedly as the rhetoric boomed out through the slight electronic distortion of the public address systems.
▪ Yes, there is a public address system, but I don't believe that is working either.
▪ Historically, countrywide health improvements have begun with the public health system.
▪ The de Young can not wait that long for a reluctant city to build an adequate public transportation system.
▪ The doors had come open and there was a voice on a public address system shouting something.
▪ Other user fees actually make public systems more progressive.
social
Social divisions Finally, Tumin questions the view that social stratification functions to integrate the social system.
▪ Both are born into colonial societies ordered by traditional social systems of hierarchy and male domination and by strong, fundamentalist religion.
▪ Thus they will displace those firms that finance the social security systems, and will undermine established safety regulations.
▪ A survival-of-the-fittest social system, feudalism, that had lasted for hundreds of years was quickly replaced by capitalism.
▪ They conclude that differential rewards are functional for society, that they contribute to the maintenance and well-being of social systems.
▪ Local public administration clearly needs to be seen in the context of the broader political, social and economic system.
▪ Each state agreed to recognise and respect the other, including their respective political and social systems.
▪ In all institutions complex social systems flourished, based on close emotional, homosexual relationships.
solar
▪ A less-contrived example involves the relation between Kepler's theory of the solar system and Newton's.
▪ The supposed permanent subsolar point would be the hottest place in the solar system outside the Sun.
▪ Henceforth the whole cosmos or at least the whole solar system must be conceived as a process of constant historical change.
▪ All the heavy materials came from junk spinning somewhere around in the solar system.
▪ These are believed to come from beyond the Solar system, i.e. from interstellar space, the space between the stars.
▪ Not long ago I had read that each atom was a sort of solar system.
▪ Some astronomers have used these data to suggest that our solar system is unusual.
▪ Perspective 6: People make themselves at home throughout the solar system.
whole
▪ Henceforth the whole cosmos or at least the whole solar system must be conceived as a process of constant historical change.
▪ Freedom of political organization is more formal than real, and corruption is widespread throughout the whole political system.
▪ Frank was convinced of his arguments and fought bitterly with Tom, another academic, when he mocked the whole system.
▪ The whole system requires enormous amounts of energy.
▪ During your treatment you have had the security of the whole hospital system and the support of experts.
▪ The little one claimed that the whole color system smacked of an assembly-line mentality.
▪ In the last two decades a whole new system of checks and balances - the prostaglandin system - has been discovered.
▪ If the server were compromised, the integrity of the whole system would fail.
■ NOUN
computer
▪ They contain telephone numbers for classified computer systems.
▪ Neuroscience Network Projects: Scientists are increasingly turning to chemistry and biology to create new designs for neural network computer systems.
▪ The consultant had charged over £66,000 for his work and the computer system had cost in the region of £75,000.
▪ There also is concern that the same computer system that would help predict reliability through simulation could be used for design improvements.
▪ When a bar code is read, all that is fed into the computer system is the same number.
▪ The computer system is based on a really basic format of paper dolls.
▪ In Grampian difficulties with the GPass computer system delayed the development of fundholding, and these problems are still being overcome.
▪ Also, make sure that the provider works with customers to integrate their computer systems.
control
▪ The tilt problems so far have all been traced to the electric control systems.
▪ Subcontractor, Woodward Governor, also provided an interesting display with the Netcon 500 gas turbine monitoring and control system.
▪ The two companies reckon this combination will appeal to developers of process control systems using real-time monitoring.
▪ My one gripe is that at times the control system is not as good as expected.
▪ It should be remembered in designing a control system that the earthworm transport hosts present a continuous reservoir of infection.
▪ Each set-top decoder would then have its Macrovision-component circuitry individually addressed and activated through the network's addressable access control system.
▪ Look carefully at the inventory control system.
▪ At the forefront is a traction control system.
education
▪ Student power, Danny the Red, Tariq Ali, debates on the irrelevance of the education system.
▪ In fact, most of our higher education system is customer-driven, and it is widely considered the best in the world.
▪ The education system reflects the polarization of society.
▪ The group tries to find work for gang members and help them return to the education system.
▪ About 600,000 people leave the secondary education system every year.
▪ Political explanations Radical feminist and Marxist feminist interpretations of the education system have focused less on attitudes and more on power structures.
▪ If such integration were the aim, it would immediately have enormous resource implications in an already impoverished education system.
▪ The public education system, its declining educational and social standards.
information
▪ Also, supplied with the information system are guides to collating local information and to reordering waiting-room leaflets.
▪ He also graduated from Moorhead State University in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in computer information systems.
▪ Nevertheless contracting does incur greater administrative costs in the form of new accounting and information systems and staff.
▪ They must understand finance and information systems, and be able to interpret data.
▪ So the service offers a payment system and a management information system rolled into one.
▪ They also provide services for the Internet, information systems, telecommunications and Web server use.
▪ Wellcome therefore adopted a different approach to meet this problem and developed a separate management information system using extracts from the address.
▪ How might information systems provide a nucleus for organizational and personal continuity?
justice
▪ We will never reform the justice system until we are prepared to acknowledge its fundamental defects.
▪ One could not maintain the criminal justice system otherwise.
▪ To them, the justice system is a mockery, another cleaver in the hands of Power.
▪ Director of Public Prosecutions Barbara Mills said marathon trials let down the justice system.
▪ An inside look at the criminal justice system was the right kind of project, he thought.
▪ Maybe blacks will start getting equal treatment in the justice system.
▪ Only 0. 5 percent of their white counterparts were similarly under control of the criminal justice system, it said.
operating
▪ The symbolic resources are such things as exclusive rights to access parts of the database, operating system locks, and so on.
▪ This includes operating systems, compilers, system libraries etc.
▪ None of the operating systems has much mainstream business software to go with it.
▪ Its architecture is platform, operating system and compiler-independent and adaptable to multiple languages.
▪ SunSoft promises to unveil a comprehensive channel strategy for both versions of the operating system.
▪ Vendors running a supposedly standard Unix operating system until now provided different text input methods.
▪ The system is written in C and has input-output extensions to the OS-9 and OS-9000 operating systems.
school
▪ Perhaps the most obvious characteristic of the school system at the moment is how different schools can be.
▪ Moreover, many of our urban school systems are in crisis.
▪ In the school system, aspects of core skills were present in the Munn curriculum, introduced in the late 1970s.
▪ But, in his place, the school system did not have the wisdom to send in anyone more qualified.
▪ Colleges could match the needs of the Catholic school system either in numbers or range of subjects.
▪ Also, parents should consider using the resources of the school system whenever possible.
▪ But its collapse had served to focus attention upon many of the tensions within the school system.
▪ But the proposals were rejected by Democratic legislators, who said the underfunded public school system would lose too much money.
security
▪ The companies plan to apply the concept to gas and electricity supplies as well as security systems.
▪ Our Social Security system has already attached a very long string to generations of children for support of their parents' generation.
▪ Rather than being rewarded by the social security system, that home owner suffered a disadvantage.
▪ The techniques he used to breach computer security systems remain available to others.
▪ Thus they will displace those firms that finance the social security systems, and will undermine established safety regulations.
▪ Nor is the present social security system in much better shape.
▪ On first returning to power in 1979 the Conservatives set out to make piecemeal adjustments to the social security system.
▪ The Social Security system is both part of the cause and part of the effect of what is happening to the family.
support
▪ The introduction of a new support system to encourage public access and conservation-friendly farming methods.
▪ Use these people as a support system.
▪ Membership of a group also offers an added social support system.
▪ School counselors can organize support systems both within and outside the school walls.
▪ Inquiry into pit collapse An inquiry has begun into the pit collapse with a focus on the roof support system.
▪ Children who are learning to read will tap into many support systems.
▪ Decision support systems, providing computer-based facilities for conducting analyses, simulations etc. 9.
▪ Proposed changes would phase out that support system, but guarantee farmers a gradually dwindling subsidy payment over the next seven years.
tax
▪ Table 7.2 shows very clearly what a proportionately high price the poor pay for their social services through the tax system.
▪ But this would have ruined the entire tax system.
▪ Corporation tax systems fall into different categories.
▪ Married women are treated as dependents by the income tax system, whatever their actual economic resources and social situation.
▪ The objective here is to introduce the fundamental characteristics of the tax system.
▪ Consider the three things that most governments now demand of their tax systems.
▪ A more efficient tax system would not discriminate between cash compensation and fringe benefits.
■ VERB
based
▪ The examination timetable itself is based on the slotting system and clashes are, therefore, minimized.
▪ Local government is based on the system of representative democracy: councillors are elected to make policy on behalf of the general population.
▪ This is based unashamedly on a system which will be familiar to students of Open University reading courses.
▪ Payment would be based on a pooled system: if everyone wanted the same coverage costs would be shared.
▪ We agree that there has to be a rules-#based system for governing global trade.
▪ Advances in medical technology and the breakthroughs in genetics make it easier for Britain to move towards an insurance-#based system.
develop
▪ Both Kemira and Hydro have been developing systems that turn the data into variable rate fertiliser application recommendations.
▪ Otherwise, the companies that develop software for its systems could stop doing so.
▪ It has no officer corps and has never developed a uniform central system of recruitment and management.
▪ Why was Britain so slow to develop a national system of education before 1914?
▪ They define their fundamental missions, then develop budget systems and rules that free their employees to pursue those missions.
▪ In order to do this a coding system was developed.
▪ There is a growing push in the banking and brokerage community to develop systems that support advanced services.
operate
▪ We also operate a loop system for the hard-of-hearing, details of which are available at the Box Office.
▪ Microsoft had made its name, and much of its revenues, from operating systems and computer languages.
▪ Tilne - some organisations operate on a shift system so the structure is based around a particular shift.
▪ The company had touted SoftRAM as a cheap solution to memory problems when using the RAM-hungry Windows 95 operating system.
▪ TeamLinks, which to date only operates on VAX/VME-based systems, comprises an X.400-based mail system and office automation software.
▪ The buildings would use the 34-degree water to operate their air-conditioning systems.
▪ Unfortunately, this is too complicated for the Z88's operating system.
▪ Windows 95 is not the most ironclad operating system.
use
▪ By using fixed mooring systems for boats.
▪ The alternative to trying to regulate and socialize the family is to use the market system to guide resources into the family.
▪ Some comparativists use both system designs.
▪ ReplayTV is more difficult to hack because it uses a proprietary operating system.
▪ The patients were staged using the Ann Arbor system.
▪ But nowadays, everyone uses an automated phone system for something.
▪ These are likely to include the department managers and possibly people who will use the system when it is implemented.
▪ Gane and Sarson suggest that the techniques can be used to specify the system design and help in the implementation process.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
beat the system
▪ Gomez tried to beat the system by moving his money between his bank and investment accounts.
▪ There's a limit on how much luggage you can take on a plane, but there are ways to beat the system.
▪ A special unit will be set up to stop crooks beating the system.
▪ Available as both saloon and fastback, the Rover 820 Si 16v is designed to beat the system on two counts.
▪ If we can not beat the system, how can we get it to work for us?
▪ Prosecutors have warned that broader use of lie detectors will only give criminals another way to beat the system.
▪ The brazen response of some was to smirk, for beating the system-any system-was a legitimate aspiration.
▪ Very few beat the system and those who did were not much encouraged by Bloomsbury House.
▪ You can't beat the system and shouldn't want to, because it represents a co-operative progress towards shared goals.
comprehensive education/system
▪ Among Labour voters only 8 % are against the principle of comprehensive education.
▪ I am extremely proud of the comprehensive education system.
▪ The comprehensive system itself remains subject to similar investigation.
▪ The example of comprehensive education is again interesting.
▪ The fourth school is situated on the edge of a large industrial city which operates a completely comprehensive system.
▪ The important issue for reformers was the creation of a national, comprehensive system offering guidance, placement, and after-care.
▪ The result will be a more coherent and comprehensive system by which to maintain standards in our awards.
▪ We will discuss here two different methods which have the advantage that they can be combined into a more comprehensive system.
early warning system/device etc
▪ Into this would be built an early warning system to keep the business on the right financial track.
▪ She wondered if she had developed an early warning system since the fiasco with Marcus.
▪ The antibody test is the best early warning device available.
▪ Their fortunes may thereby serve as an early warning system to humankind of previously unrecognized environmental problems.
▪ They have an early warning system.
▪ This knowledge also improves early warning systems for the events.
▪ Timely recognition of emerging infections requires early warning systems to detect new infectious diseases before they become public health crises.
▪ Use was made of facilities for communications, intelligence gathering, and early warning systems.
game the system
▪ Linder accused insurance companies of gaming the system to increase profits.
▪ Yet since even the best laws leave loopholes, unsavory characters find ways to game the system.
play the system
▪ Accountants know how to play the tax system.
the binary system
▪ How far is the binary system binary in terms of curricula as well as organization?
▪ That is the part which deals with the ending of the binary system in higher education.
the metric system
the solar system
work the system
▪ Accountants would always be kept busy showing the rest of us how to work the system.
▪ It is better if this problem can be avoided by having the operators work the system properly.
▪ Many say privately that for whatever reason, too many black parents fail to work the system.
▪ They are all working the system.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a car alarm system
▪ a democratic system of government
▪ Florida's public school system
▪ I do the cooking and Andrew does the shopping; it's an excellent system.
▪ I work a lot more quickly now I've developed an efficient system of working.
▪ Most teachers are opposed to recent changes in the education system.
▪ Our communications software tends to crash the system.
▪ Ryan thinks he's discovered a system for winning at roulette.
▪ the U.S. legal system
▪ They are introducing a system for dealing with enquiries from customers.
▪ We're going to have to make some changes - this system just doesn't work.
▪ What we need is a cheap and reliable system of public transportation.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But 60 percent of all Audis sold in this country are sold with that system.
▪ If the system could not or would not forbid such questions, its survival depended on their being rendered incomprehensible.
▪ It gives us everything from our connection to the outside world to our artistic and intellectual systems.
▪ Its special factors should be recognised and it should have a regional banding system more reflective of its house prices.
▪ The system begins with almost no co-payments except $ 5 for each prescription.
▪ They have quoted for linking the projector to our existing system.
▪ This could not be happening if the brain and immune system were separate entities.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
System

System \Sys"tem\, n. [L. systema, Gr. ?, fr. ? to place together; sy`n with + ? to place: cf. F. syst[`e]me. See Stand.]

  1. An assemblage of objects arranged in regular subordination, or after some distinct method, usually logical or scientific; a complete whole of objects related by some common law, principle, or end; a complete exhibition of essential principles or facts, arranged in a rational dependence or connection; a regular union of principles or parts forming one entire thing; as, a system of philosophy; a system of government; a system of divinity; a system of botany or chemistry; a military system; the solar system.

    The best way to learn any science, is to begin with a regular system, or a short and plain scheme of that science well drawn up into a narrow compass.
    --I. Watts.

  2. Hence, the whole scheme of created things regarded as forming one complete plan of whole; the universe. ``The great system of the world.''
    --Boyle.

  3. Regular method or order; formal arrangement; plan; as, to have a system in one's business.

  4. (Mus.) The collection of staves which form a full score. See Score, n.

  5. (Biol.) An assemblage of parts or organs, either in animal or plant, essential to the performance of some particular function or functions which as a rule are of greater complexity than those manifested by a single organ; as, the capillary system, the muscular system, the digestive system, etc.; hence, the whole body as a functional unity.

  6. (Zo["o]l.) One of the stellate or irregular clusters of intimately united zooids which are imbedded in, or scattered over, the surface of the common tissue of many compound ascidians.

    Block system, Conservative system, etc. See under Block, Conservative, etc.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
system

1610s, "the whole creation, the universe," from Late Latin systema "an arrangement, system," from Greek systema "organized whole, a whole compounded of parts," from stem of synistanai "to place together, organize, form in order," from syn- "together" (see syn-) + root of histanai "cause to stand" from PIE root *sta- "to stand" (see stet).\n

\nMeaning "set of correlated principles, facts, ideas, etc." first recorded 1630s. Meaning "animal body as an organized whole, sum of the vital processes in an organism" is recorded from 1680s; hence figurative phrase to get (something) out of one's system (1900). Computer sense of "group of related programs" is recorded from 1963. All systems go (1962) is from U.S. space program. The system "prevailing social order" is from 1806.

Wiktionary
system

n. 1 A collection of organized things; a whole composed of relationships among its members. 2 # (label en mathematics) A set of equations involving the same variable#Noun, which are to be solved simultaneously. 3 # (context medicine English) The body organs that contribute to a vegetative function. 4 # (label en music) A set of staffs that indicate instruments or sounds that are to be played simultaneously. 5 A method or way of organizing or planning. 6 # (context derogatory English) In '''the system''': the mainstream culture, elites, or government of a state, or a combination of them, seen as oppressive to the individual.

WordNet
system
  1. n. a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising a unified whole; "a vast system of production and distribution and consumption keep the country going" [syn: scheme]

  2. instrumentality that combines interrelated interacting artifacts designed to work as a coherent entity; "he bought a new stereo system"; "the system consists of a motor and a small computer"

  3. a complex of methods or rules governing behavior; "they have to operate under a system they oppose"; "that language has a complex system for indicating gender" [syn: system of rules]

  4. a procedure or process for obtaining an objective; "they had to devise a system that did not depend on cooperation"

  5. a group of physiologically or anatomically related organs or parts; "the body has a system of organs for digestion"

  6. an organized structure for arranging or classifying; "he changed the arrangement of the topics"; "the facts were familiar but it was in the organization of them that he was original"; "he tried to understand their system of classification" [syn: arrangement, organization, organisation]

  7. (physical chemistry) a sample of matter in which substances in different phases are in equilibrium; "in a static system oil cannot be replaced by water on a surface"; "a system generating hydrogen peroxide"

  8. the living body considered as made up of interdependent components forming a unified whole; "exercise helped him get the alcohol out of his system"

  9. an ordered manner; orderliness by virtue of being methodical and well organized; "his compulsive organization was not an endearing quality"; "we can't do it unless we establish some system around here" [syn: organization, organisation]

Wikipedia
System

A system is a set of interacting or interdependent component parts forming a complex/intricate whole. Every system is delineated by its spatial and temporal boundaries, surrounded and influenced by its environment, described by its structure and purpose and expressed in its functioning.

The term system may also refer to a set of rules that governs structure or behavior. Alternatively, and usually in the context of complex social systems, the term is used to describe the set of rules that govern structure or behavior.

System (disambiguation)

__NOTOC__ The term system may refer to:

  • System, a set of entities, real or abstract, comprising a whole
  • Meta-system, something composed of multiple smaller systems
System (C standard library)
System (album)

System is the fifth studio album by British soul/ R&B singer Seal, released on 12 November 2007. In his online blog, Seal described the album as a return to his dance roots and his best album since his debut. However, it is his lowest-selling album to date in the US, selling 155,000 copies in the first year of its release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

System (journal)

System is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the applications of educational technology and applied linguistics to problems of foreign language teaching and learning. It was established in 1973 and is published quarterly by Elsevier.

System (typeface)

System is a family of proportional raster fonts distributed with Microsoft Windows. Sharing the same letterforms as MS Sans Serif, the font family contains fonts encoded in several Windows code pages, with multiple resolutions of the font for each code page. Fonts of different code pages have different point sizes. Under DBCS Windows environment, specifying this font may also cause applications to use non-System fonts when displaying texts.

In Windows 2000 or later, changing script setting in some application's font dialogue (e.g.: Notepad, WordPad) causes the font to look completely different, even under same font size. Similarly, changing language setting for Windows applications that do not support Unicode will alter the appearance of the font.

When Windows is running with low system resources, System is the fallback font used for displaying texts.

System (stratigraphy)

A system in stratigraphy is a unit of rock layers that were laid down together within the same corresponding geological period. The associated period is a chronological time unit, a part of the geological time scale, while the system is a unit of chronostratigraphy. Systems are unrelated to lithostratigraphy, which subdivides rock layers on their lithology. Systems are subdivisions of erathems and are themselves divided into series and stages.

Usage examples of "system".

The Yuuzhan Vong must be replacing the abiotic drainage systems with biotic ones.

Yuuzhan Vong must be replacing the abiotic drainage systems with biotic ones.

Channa, the ablutions system was not completely set up and the perfume mixer not installed.

Menstruation may fail to be established in consequence of organic defects, or from some abnormal condition of the blood and nervous system.

This would mean, according to our present understanding of heredity, an inherited abnormality in one or more enzyme systems and a metabolism that is therefore disordered in some specific manner.

If it is working well, then it is absolutely and in all ways as good as any other system, and who are we to go judging further?

My ship abuilding out in the construction orbits was human-designed and human-built, but most of the construction, and all of the drive and communications systems, were adapted from Heechee designs.

Let them accede, then, to his proposition for a committee, and he would pledge himself to explode the fallacy of agricultural protection, and to put an end to the present system within two years from the publication of its report.

Naxid missiles, Martinez realized, accelerated to relativistic velocities outside the system, then fired through the wormhole along the route they knew Chenforce had to take.

The missiles, like the pinnaces, could be recovered after the completion of their mission, or diverted to other targets, like the merchant vessels that were accelerating madly in an effort to clear the system before Chenforce destroyed them.

I now had access to one computer, which turned out to be running an older version of the UNIX operating system.

Under UNIX, the operating system maintains a password file which con-rains the encrypted passwords of everybody authorized to access that computer.

SECURITY Security that relies on knowing where desired information is, and using a word or name to gain access to that information or computer system.

Ethernet jacks installed in conference rooms, the cafeteria, training centers, or other areas accessible to visitors shall be filtered to prevent unauthorized access by visitors to the corporate computer systems.

It is accessible through the system of worldlet gates reached in External Hall.