What does "cline" mean?
A gradation in a character or phenotype within a species, deme, or other systematic group.
Cline
/klaɪn/ name, noun
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A gradation in a character or phenotype within a species, deme, or other systematic group.
- Grammar: cline is listed as name, noun.
- Nearest alternatives: continuum, gradational variation, gradient, gradual spectrum.
- Useful contrasts: binary split, discontinuity, step change.
- Usage evidence: There is a gradual cline of decreasing size to the northward.
How to use "cline"
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- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "cline" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
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Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "cline" in a final draft.
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Before you rely on this definition
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "cline" is acting as name, noun in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
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3. Confirm with context
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Final meaning check
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When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A gradation in a character or phenotype within a species, deme, or other systematic group.
"2000 Michael J. O'Brien and R. Lee Lyman: Applying Evolutionary Archaeology →ISBN [A cline is a] character gradient, wherein a character such as length increases or decreases gradually and continuously. A cline distributed over geographic space is a "chorocline"; a cline distributed over time is a "chronocline." Compare with chorospecies and chronospecies. . . Simpson termed the change through time a "chronocline", where a cline represents a character gradient. A chunk of a chronocline comprises a chronospecies. The difficulty with identifying a chronospecies resides, then, in first identifying a chronocline, or temporal gradient in a character or attribute. As pointed out by Kevin Padian, some characters "change more or less uniformly through time, but others change not at all, and still others vacillate with no clear trend. This is ... one reason to be suspicious of the evolutionary utility of clines: no criterion for identifying a cline seems to be in force. A cline is simply a gradient in character state along a continuum, and it may be broken, temporarily reversed, or stepped. Furthermore, there is no criterion for a cline's magnitude and no control on its probability.""
- 2 A generalized circle.
"Let C₁ and C₂ be two nonintersecting clines. Prove that there is a unique pair of points that are simultaneously symmetric to both C₁ and C₂."
- 3 Any graduated continuum.
"2004 Language typology: a functional perspective →ISBN The cline of instantiation is a dimension that organizes systems of all kinds — physical systems like that of meteorology, biological systems, social systems and semiotic systems. In the realm of semiotic systems, text lies at the instance end of the cline. Text is "semiotic weather"; but what about the "semiotic climate", weather patterns and subclimates? There are in fact clear semiotic analogies. The "semiotic climate" is the overall linguistic system; it is the meaning potential of a language. Thus a text instantiates the linguistic system; and the linguistic system "potentializes" innumerable texts."
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"There is a gradual cline of decreasing size to the northward."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "cline"?
Common synonyms include: continuum, gradational variation, gradient, gradual spectrum, gradual variation.
How do you use "cline" in a sentence?
There is a gradual cline of decreasing size to the northward.
How do you pronounce "cline"?
Pronounced /klaɪn/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Ancient Greek κλῑ́νω (klī́nō, “to lean, incline”). Introduced by English evolutionary biologist and eugenicist Julian Huxley in 1938 after British mycologist John Ramsbottom suggested the term.
Etymology 2
From c(ircle) + line; compare circline.