Cladistics

//kləˈdɪs.tɪks// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An approach to biological systematics in which organisms are grouped based upon synapomorphies (shared derived characteristics) only, and not upon symplesiomorphies (shared ancestral characteristics); a method of classifying organisms based on their evolutionary relationships instead of superficial characteristics. uncountable

    "Here we suggest emphasis on the techniques of cladistics (Eldredge and Cracraft 1980; Wiley 1981; Coddington 1988) because they provide a clear means of organizing phylogenetic information in branching diagrams."

  2. 2
    a taxonomic system of classifying species based on the branching patterns of cladograms that are built to infer phylogenetic relations wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
cladistic analysis

Example

More examples

"Here we suggest emphasis on the techniques of cladistics (Eldredge and Cracraft 1980; Wiley 1981; Coddington 1988) because they provide a clear means of organizing phylogenetic information in branching diagrams."

Etymology

From clade + -istic, from Ancient Greek κλάδος (kládos, “branch”).

Related phrases

phylogenetic tree

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