Synergy Meaning

/ˈsɪnəd͡ʒi/
B2

Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounA synonym of binding energy.

nounThe cooperation of two or more nerves, muscles, organs, etc.

Those actors play off each other so well that it makes a kind of synergy.
"We need more synergy." "What does that mean?"
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ between the marketing and sales teams resulted in a record-breaking quarter.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The two companies hope that their merger will create significant ____ and lead to much higher profits for everyone involved today.

From Ancient Greek συνεργία (sunergía, “cooperation”), from σύν (sún, “with, together”) + ἔργον (érgon, “work”). By surface analysis, syn- + -ergy.

"In short, synergy is the consequence of the energy expended in creating order. It is locked up in the viable system created, be it an organism or a social system. It is at the level of the system. It is not discernible at the level of the system. It is not discernible at the level of the system's components. Whenever the system is dismembered to examine its components, this binding energy dissipates. An ordered library offers systemic possibilities, such as rapid search, selection, and aggregation, that cannot be explained by looking at the books themselves. These possibilities only exist because of the investment made in defining and creating interrelations between the books, their physical arrangement and the catalogues." — 2009, J.-C. Spender, “Organizational Knowledge, Collective Practice and Penrose Rents”, in Michael H. Zack, editor, Knowledge and Strategy, Routledge, page 125:
"Others argued that the notion of a targeted war on a particular disease inevitably distracted from natural synergies with other areas of research." — 2010, Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies, Fourth Estate (2011), page 187:
"Remember the eastern leg of HS2 being lopped back to the East Midlands? To this Yorkshireman, this was a tragedy. It removed the umbilical cord designed to connect and bind together the modern advanced manufacturing corridor of England (West Midlands-East Midlands-the reborn Sheffield-Leeds-Teesside-Tyneside), helping it to be capable of competing internationally through the synergy of skills and skilled people." — 2024 February 7, Andrew McNaughton, “HS2: a truncated route cuts off city lifelines”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 47:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ between the marketing and sales teams resulted in a record-breaking quarter.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The two companies hope that their merger will create significant ____ and lead to much higher profits for everyone involved today.

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