Plesiomorphic

//ˌplizioʊˈmɔɹfɪk// adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Sharing a character state with an ancestral clade; primitive.

    "[T]he cockroach Polyphaga may represent a condition more plesiomorphic than in other Dictyoptera, but it could as well be paedomorphic, and therefore more derived than in other Dictyoptera [72]."

  2. 2
    Plesiomorphous.

Synonyms

All synonyms
apomorphicbasalprimitiveprimitive

Example

More examples

"[T]he cockroach Polyphaga may represent a condition more plesiomorphic than in other Dictyoptera, but it could as well be paedomorphic, and therefore more derived than in other Dictyoptera [72]."

Etymology

From plesiomorph + -ic.

Related phrases

character state

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