adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Of a characteristic, distinguishing an organism or taxon from others that share the same ancestor.

   "The possession of cilia is an apomorphic trait of this family."

2. 2
   Of a taxon, distinguished by such characteristics.

   "The genus is highly apomorphic."

Synonyms

All synonyms

plesiomorphic

Antonyms

All antonyms

pleisiomorphic

Example

More examples

"The possession of cilia is an apomorphic trait of this family."

Etymology

From apomorphy + -ic.

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