The Meaning of Systemic: What It Is and How To Use It

What does it mean if something is systemic? In this article, we will define the meaning of systemic and teach you how to use it in a sentence.

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Today’s word of the day is systemic. If something is described as being systemic, what does that mean? Does the word systemic have a positive, negative, or neutral connotation?

This article will not only tell you the definition of the word systemic but teach you how to use it. Finally, this article will provide you with many alternate terms for the word systemic. 

What Does Systemic Mean?

According to Dictionary, the word systemic means normative, customary, or methodical. If something is systemic, it is part of a system or related to a system. The adverb form of the word systemic is systemically. The pronunciation of systemic is sɪˈstemɪk, and systemic is three syllables: sys-tem-ic.

The word systemic can sometimes have a negative connotation because of its usage in the phrase “systemic racism.” While the word systemic when used alone has a fairly neutral connotation, you should make sure that you use it carefully.

How Can We Use Systemic in a Sentence?

Reading and studying example sentences is a great way to learn new words. In the below example sentences containing the word systemic, see if you can identify what noun in the sentence is described as systemic. Then, try to use the word systemic in a sentence yourself.

Example #1

The systemic disease that spread throughout the community attacked the entire body at once.

Question: What is systemic in the above sentence?

Answer: The disease is systemic.

Example #2

The systemic pesticide and insecticide were supposed only to kill the bugs, but they destroyed the entire organism of the crop. All of it was too dead to harvest.

Question: What is systemic in the above sentence?

Answer: The pesticide is systemic.

Example #3

The non-profit sought to combat systemic problems that plagued society and destroyed the environment.

Question: What is systemic in the above sentence?

Answer: The problems are systemic.

Example #4

Systemic racism causes inequities in every facet of society, and it needs to end now. 

Question: What is systemic in the above sentence?

Answer: Racism is systemic.

Example #5

The workers at the company were fed up and decided to make systemic change to end the toxic work culture.

Question: What is systemic in the above sentence?

Answer: The change is systemic.

Example #6

The systemic poison destroyed the whole body via the nervous system.

Question: What is systemic in the above sentence?

Answer: The poison is systemic.

Example #7

The investors took a systemic risk with what stocks they chose to buy.

Question: What is systemic in the above sentence?

Answer: The risk is systemic.

Example #8

After systemic failures in test after test, the student decided to drop the advanced calculus class.

Question: What is systemic in the above sentence?

Answer: The failure is systemic.

What Are Translations of Systemic?

If you only speak American English, you can learn about translations of the word systemic using Nice Translator. However, if you are going to be traveling or if you are communicating about things that are systemic with people who do not speak English, you can make use of the below translations.

You might notice that several of these translations look and sound similar to the word systemic. Often, when words in different languages look similar, this is due to the fact that they share a root or a language of origin. 

See if you can identify which words look and sound similar to the word systemic.

  • Serbian: системски
  • Telugu: దైహిక
  • Romanian: sistemic
  • Latvian: sistemātisks
  • Dutch: systemisch
  • Norwegian: systematisk
  • Filipino: Sistema
  • Turkish: sistemik
  • Korean: 전신
  • Kannada: ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥಿತ
  • Slovak: systémový
  • Bengali: সিস্টেমিক
  • Italian: sistemico
  • Greek: συστήματος
  • French: systémique
  • Danish: Systemisk
  • Slovenian: sistemsko
  • Russian: системный
  • Hebrew: מערכתי
  • Polish: systemowy
  • Basque: sistemiko
  • Vietnamese: hệ thống
  • Urdu: سیسٹیمیٹک
  • Icelandic: kerfisbundið
  • Malay: sistemik
  • Portuguese (Portugal): sistêmico
  • Czech: systémové
  • Croatian: sistemski
  • Lithuanian: sisteminė
  • Amharic: ስልታዊ
  • Thai: เป็นระบบ
  • Indonesian: sistemik
  • Chinese (PRC): 系统性
  • Finnish: systeeminen
  • Arabic: النظامية
  • Catalan: sistèmic
  • Swahili: utaratibu
  • Japanese: 全身
  • Welsh: systemig
  • Estonian: süsteemne
  • Chinese (Taiwan): 系統性
  • Bulgarian: системен
  • German: systemisch
  • Hungarian: szisztematikus
  • Spanish: sistémico
  • Malayalam: സജീവമായ
  • Tamil: முறையான
  • Marathi: प्रणालीगत
  • Portuguese (Brazil): sistêmico
  • Gujarati: પ્રણાલીગત
  • Hindi: प्रणालीगत
  • Swedish: systemisk
  • Ukrainian: системний

What Are Synonyms of Systemic?

Power Thesaurus provides us with numerous words that a person can use in place of the word systemic. Sometimes, you might be looking for a word that has a different connotation than the word systemic. For this, you can utilize a list of synonyms like the ones below.

  • absolute
  • abundant
  • acaricide
  • accepted
  • across the board
  • across-the-board
  • adequate
  • aggregate
  • airy
  • all
  • all together
  • all-around
  • all-embracing
  • all-in
  • all-inclusive
  • all-out
  • all-over
  • all-pervading
  • all-pervasive
  • all-present
  • all-purpose
  • all-round
  • bacteriological
  • comprehensive
  • congenital
  • consistent
  • elemental
  • essential
  • fundamental
  • general
  • generalized
  • indiscriminate
  • ingrained
  • inherent
  • innate
  • inseparable
  • integral
  • intrinsic
  • methodical
  • national
  • regular
  • requisite
  • somatic
  • system
  • system-wide
  • systematic
  • systematically
  • systematize
  • systemically
  • universal
  • widespread

What Are Antonyms of Systemic?

If something is not systemic, it is done at random or is unorganized. For describing things that are the opposite of systemic, try using a word from this list of antonyms of systemic from Power Thesaurus.

  • accident
  • accidental
  • accidentally
  • adventitious
  • aimless
  • aleatory
  • arbitrary
  • capricious
  • casual
  • chance
  • coincidental
  • confused
  • contingent
  • desultory
  • discontinuous
  • disorganized
  • erratic
  • fitful
  • fluky
  • fortuitous
  • haphazard
  • haphazardly
  • helter-skelter
  • hit-or-miss
  • incidental
  • indiscriminate
  • indiscriminately
  • intermittent
  • irregular
  • occasional
  • odd
  • promiscuous
  • purposeless
  • random
  • randomly
  • serendipitous
  • spasmodic
  • sporadic
  • stray
  • undirected
  • unexpected
  • unforeseeable
  • unintended
  • unintentional
  • unmethodical
  • unorganized
  • unplanned
  • unpredictable
  • unpremeditated
  • unsystematic
  • wanton
  • wild

Conclusion

The definition of systemic (sɪˈstɛm ɪk) is something that is related to a system or an established policy or set of beliefs. The word systemic is an adjective. Try using this new adjective in a sentence of your own today!

Sources:

  1. Systemic synonyms – 433 Words and Phrases for Systemic | Power Thesaurus
  2. Random synonyms – 869 Words and Phrases for Random | Power Thesaurus  
  3. Systemic Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com 
  4. Systemic | Nice Translator