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synergy

SIN-er-jee /ˈsɪnərdʒi/

nounC1GREGMATCAT

businessacademic

The interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate parts.

Often used in corporate mergers to justify the combination of two companies, implying that 1 + 1 will equal 3.

The story behind the word. Before it became a beloved corporate buzzword of the 1980s, synergy was a theological term from the 17th century describing the cooperation of human will and divine grace. It later migrated to biology to describe how different muscles or drugs work together, before finally being adopted by business theorists to describe corporate mergers.

Word relationships

collaboration: Collaboration is simply working together; synergy requires the output to exceed the sum of individual inputs.
cohesion: Cohesion is the sticking together of elements, whereas synergy is their active, productive interaction.

antagonism: Antagonism is active hostility or opposition where combined forces reduce overall effectiveness.
asymmetry: Asymmetry refers to an imbalance, whereas synergy requires harmonious, complementary action.

Commonly confused with

energy: Energy is the capacity for doing work, while synergy is the cooperative interaction of multiple forces.

Word family

synergistic (adjective): Relating to or producing synergy.
synergize (verb): To combine forces to achieve a cooperative, enhanced effect.

Collocations

create synergy
exploit synergies
corporate synergy
potential synergy

Example sentences

"The merger of the two pharmaceutical giants was expected to create significant synergy in their research and development departments." Corporate strategy report on a recent merger.
"Synergy is the highest activity of all life—the true test and manifestation of all other parts put together." A classic quote on systems and cooperation.

Memory hook

Think of 'syn-' (together) and 'energy'. When you put your energy together with someone else's, you create synergy. Together-energy makes more than the sum of its parts.

When not to use

Do not use it as a simple synonym for 'cooperation' or 'teamwork' when no exponential or combined value is actually being created.

Fun facts

In medicine, synergistic drugs can be dangerous because their combined effect is much stronger than taking them separately.

Explore more words

synergize, symbiotic, integrate, collaboration, Integration, complement