cline
1 Americannoun
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Biology. the gradual change in certain characteristics exhibited by members of a series of adjacent populations of organisms of the same species.
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Linguistics. (in systemic linguistics) a scale of continuous gradation; continuum.
noun
combining form
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
- -clinal combining form
- clinal adjective
- clinally adverb
Etymology
Origin of cline
1935–40; < Greek klī́nein to lean 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
If there is gene flow between the populations, the individuals will likely show gradual differences in phenotype along the cline.
From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022
A cline is a change in ecological conditions over a geographic distance.
From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022
Van Tuyl and Pereltsvaig make much of the fact that the global cline in phonemic diversity does not hold within all continents.
From Science Magazine • Feb. 9, 2012
Therefore, the observation of an Africa-based phoneme inventory cline does not generalize to other linguistic characteristics of a similar kind.
From Science Magazine • Feb. 9, 2012
There are exceptions to this cline in both species.
From Speciation and Evolution of the Pygmy Mice, Genus Baiomys by Packard, Robert L.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.