“systematic” is not the same as “systemic”

2023-06-01 10:45:14

the adjective systemicand not systematicis the appropriate one to indicate that something affects the entire system.

In the news you can see phrases like “Silvergate is perhaps not a systematic risk for the US banking system” or “It has ensured that not only in Spain is there a systematic crisis in primary care.”

According to him student’s dictionaryfrom the RAE, the adjective systematic means, among other things, ‘that follows a system or adjusts to it’ and ‘reiterated insistently’. Instead, systemic is that ‘of or relating to the whole of a system; generally, as opposed to local’as collected in the academic dictionary.

Thus, if the above examples are intended to allude to a risk and a crisis that generally affects the banking system and primary care —and not that they are repeated insistently or according to a pattern⁠—, it would have been appropriate to choose in both cases by systemic: “Silvergate may not be a systemic risk for the US banking system” and “It has ensured that not only in Spain is there a systemic crisis in primary care”.

The post «systematic» is not the same as «systemic» first appeared on FundéuRAE.