artificially formal; "that artificial humility that her husband hated"; "contrived coyness"; "a stilted letter of acknowledgment"; "when people try to correct their speech they develop a stilted pronunciation"
contrived by art rather than nature; "artificial flowers"; "artificial flavoring"; "an artificial diamond"; "artificial fibers"; "artificial sweeteners"
not arising from natural growth or characterized by vital processes
a compound made artificially by chemical reactions
of a proposition whose truth value is determined by observation or facts; "`all men are arrogant' is a synthetic proposition"
systematic combining of root and modifying elements into single words
involving or of the nature of synthesis (combining separate elements to form a coherent whole) as opposed to analysis; "limnology is essentially a synthetic science composed of elements...that extend well beyond the limits of biology"- P.S.Welch
not genuine or natural; "counterfeit rhetoric that flourishes when passions are synthetic"- George Will
make understandable to the general public; "Carl Sagan popularized cosmology in his books"
cater to popular taste to make popular and present to the general public; bring into general or common use; "They popularized coffee in Washington State"; "Relativity Theory was vulgarized by these authors"
make a request or demand for something to somebody; "She asked him for a loan"
consider obligatory; request and expect; "We require our secretary to be on time"; "Aren't we asking too much of these children?"; "I expect my students to arrive in time for their lessons"
inquire about; "I asked about their special today"; "He had to ask directions several times"
direct or put; seek an answer to; "ask a question"
address a question to and expect an answer from; "Ask your teacher about trigonometry"; "The children asked me about their dead grandmother"
require or ask for as a price or condition; "He is asking $200 for the table"; "The kidnappers are asking a million dollars in return for the release of their hostage"