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categories - 2 dictionary results

cat⋅e⋅go⋅ry

  [kat-i-gawr-ee, -gohr-ee]
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–noun, plural -ries.
1. any general or comprehensive division; a class.
2. a classificatory division in any field of knowledge, as a phylum or any of its subdivisions in biology.
3. Metaphysics.
a. (in Aristotelian philosophy) any of the fundamental modes of existence, such as substance, quality, and quantity, as determined by analysis of the different possible kinds of predication.
b. (in Kantian philosophy) any of the fundamental principles of the understanding, as the principle of causation.
c. any classification of terms that is ultimate and not susceptible to further analysis.
4. categories. Also called Guggenheim. (used with a singular verb) a game in which a key word and a list of categories, as dogs, automobiles, or rivers, are selected, and in which each player writes down a word in each category that begins with each of the letters of the key word, the player writing down the most words within a time limit being declared the winner.
5. Mathematics. a type of mathematical object, as a set, group, or metric space, together with a set of mappings from such an object to other objects of the same type.
6. Grammar. part of speech.
Origin:
1580–90; < LL catēgoria < Gk katēgoría accusation (also, kind of predication), equiv. to katgor(os) accuser, affirmer (katēgor(eîn) to accuse, affirm, lit., speak publicly against, equiv. to kata- cata- + -agoreîn to speak before the agora + -os n. suffix) + -ia -y 3

Synonyms:
1. group, grouping, type.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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cat·e·go·ry   (kāt'ĭ-gôr'ē, -gōr'ē)   
n.   pl. cat·e·go·ries
  1. A specifically defined division in a system of classification; a class.
  2. A general class of ideas, terms, or things that mark divisions or coordinations within a conceptual scheme, especially:
    1. Aristotle's modes of objective being, such as quality, quantity, or relation, that are inherent in everything.
    2. Kant's modes of subjective understanding, such as singularity, universality, or particularity, that organize perceptions into knowledge.
    3. A basic logical type of philosophical conception in post-Kantian philosophy.
    4. A classificatory structural unit or property of a language, such as a part of speech, verb phrase, or object.
    5. A specific grammatical defining property of a linguistic unit or class, such as number or gender in the noun and tense or voice in the verb.
  3. Linguistics
    1. A classificatory structural unit or property of a language, such as a part of speech, verb phrase, or object.
    2. A specific grammatical defining property of a linguistic unit or class, such as number or gender in the noun and tense or voice in the verb.

[French catégorie, from Old French, from Late Latin catēgoria, class of predicables, from Greek katēgoriā, accusation, charge, from katēgorein, to accuse, predicate : kat-, kata-, down, against; see cata- + agoreuein, ēgor-, to speak in public (from agorā, marketplace, assembly; see ger- in Indo-European roots).]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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