taxonomy
noun
tax·on·o·my
| \ tak-ˈsä-nə-mē
\
\
Definition of taxonomy
1
: the study of the general principles of scientific classification : systematics
2
: classification
especially
: orderly classification of plants and animals according to their presumed natural relationships
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Other Words from taxonomy
taxonomic
\ ˌtak-sə-ˈnä-mik
\
or less commonly taxonomical \ ˌtak-sə-ˈnä-mi-kəl
\
adjective
\
or less commonly taxonomical \ ˌtak-sə-ˈnä-mi-kəl
\
adjective
taxonomically
\ ˌtak-sə-ˈnä-mi-k(ə-)lē
\
adverb
\
adverb
taxonomist
\ tak-ˈsä-nə-mist
\
noun
\
noun
Examples of taxonomy in a Sentence
the taxonomies of various plant groups
Recent Examples on the Web
But the taxonomy that emerged from this monumental effort has prompted both enlightenment and head scratching. — Quanta Magazine, "Moonshine Link Discovered for Pariah Symmetries," 22 Sep. 2017 That’s largely due to thousands of specimens collected from the CCZ waiting to be described and classified through the painstaking and underfunded task of taxonomy. — Todd Woody, National Geographic, "Do we know enough about the deep sea to mine it?," 24 July 2019 In November 2018, Uber released a taxonomy report -- the first step to releasing the transparency report. — Sara Ashley O'brien, CNN, "Uber addresses workplace harassment as rider safety concerns linger," 16 July 2019 As early as 1909, folklorists started comparing the evolution of stories and organisms, envisioning Linnaean taxonomies and evolutionary trees, or phylogenies, for myths and tales. — Ferris Jabr, Harper's magazine, "The Story of Storytelling," 10 Mar. 2019 This ranked taxonomy — domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species — is foundational to biology pedagogy. — Quanta Magazine, "What’s in a Name? Taxonomy Problems Vex Biologists," 24 June 2019 Recent genetic findings have made gull taxonomy ever more involved, with more species and sub-species and hybrids to check off. — Jennie Erin Smith, WSJ, "Book Review: A Squabble of Gulls," 14 June 2019 Some of Richard McGuire’s sequences are taxonomies: bird cages, hats, ice, or the collection of wire shapes that decorates the front matter of this book. — The New York Review of Books, "Luc Sante," 13 Oct. 2016 That history is collated like a living taxonomy throughout every layer of the Lauren Halsey archive. — Michael Slenske, latimes.com, "Lauren Halsey brings the funk to the L.A. art scene," 10 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'taxonomy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for taxonomy
taxonomy
noun
English Language Learners Definition of taxonomy
technical
: the process or system of describing the way in which different living things are related by putting them in groups
See the full definition for taxonomy in the English Language Learners Dictionary
taxonomy
noun
tax·on·o·my
| \ tak-ˈsä-nə-mē
\
\
Kids Definition of taxonomy
: classification of living things (as plants and animals) using a system that is usually based on natural relationships
taxonomy
noun
tax·on·o·my
| \ tak-ˈsän-ə-mē
\
\
plural taxonomies
Medical Definition of taxonomy
1
: the study of the general principles of scientific classification : systematics
2
: orderly classification of plants and animals according to their presumed natural relationships