[klas-uh-fi-key-shuh
n] 
| 1. | the act of classifying. |
| 2. | the result of classifying or being classified. |
| 3. | one of the groups or classes into which things may be or have been classified. |
| 4. | Biology. the assignment of organisms to groups within a system of categories distinguished by structure, origin, etc. The usual series of categories is phylum (or, esp. in botany, division), class, order, family, genus, species, and variety. |
| 5. | the category, as restricted, confidential, secret, or top secret, to which information, a document, etc., is assigned, as by a government or military agency, based on the degree of protection considered necessary to safeguard it from unauthorized use. |
| 6. | Library Science. any of various systems for arranging books and other materials, esp. according to subject or format. |
| clas·si·fi·ca·tion (klās'ə-fĭ-kā'shən) n.
|
classification clas·si·fi·ca·tion (klās'ə-fĭ-kā'shən)
n.
A systematic arrangement into classes or groups.
The systematic grouping of organisms into categories on the basis of evolutionary or structural relationships between them; taxonomy.
| classification (klās'ə-fĭ-kā'shən) Pronunciation Key
The systematic grouping of organisms according to the structural or evolutionary relationships among them. Organisms are normally classified by observed similarities in their body and cell structure or by evolutionary relationships based on the analysis of sequences of their DNA. See more at cladistics, Linnean. See Table at taxonomy. |