Symplectic

//sɪmˈplɛktɪk// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A symplectic bilinear form, manifold, geometry, etc.

    "The structure of stable symplectics on finite dimensional spaces has been studied by Krein [8], Gelfand & Lidskii [9], and Moser [10] in work of considerable practical importance."

  2. 2
    A bone in the teleostean fishes that forms the lower ossification of the suspensorium, and which articulates below with the quadrate bone by which it is firmly held.

    "The symplectics (9) consist of a somewhat curved central triangular portion with the base upward, and anteriorly and posteriorly from this extends a wing-like process."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Placed in or among, as if woven together. not-comparable
  2. 2
    Whose characteristic abelian subgroups are cyclic. not-comparable
  3. 3
    That is alternating and nondegenerate. not-comparable
  4. 4
    That is equipped with an alternating nondegenerate bilinear form. not-comparable
  5. 5
    Of or pertaining to (the geometry of) a differentiable manifold equipped with a closed nondegenerate bilinear form. not-comparable

    "There exist interesting and unexplored relations between symplectic geometry and the theory of critical points of holomorphic functions."

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    That moves in the same direction as a system of synchronized waves. not-comparable
  2. 7
    Of or pertaining to a symplectite; symplectitic. not-comparable

Synonyms

All synonyms
symplectitic

Example

More examples

"There exist interesting and unexplored relations between symplectic geometry and the theory of critical points of holomorphic functions."

Etymology

A calque of complex, coined by Hermann Weyl in his 1939 book The Classical Groups: Their Invariants and Representations. From Ancient Greek συμπλεκτικός (sumplektikós), from συμ (sum) (variant of σύν (sún)), + πλεκτικός (plektikós) (from πλέκω (plékō)); modelled on complex (from Latin complexus (“braided together”), from com- (“together”) + plectere (“to weave, braid”)). The symplectic group has previously been called the line complex group.

Related phrases

symplectic Clifford algebrasymplectic cutsymplectic formsymplectic groupsymplectic invariantsymplectic matrixbilinear formquadrate bone

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.