Definition of "cline" [cline]

• A gradual change in a character or feature across the distributional range of a species or population, usually correlated with an environmental or geographic transition. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Hate to muddy the waters, Jenny, but apparently it's not meaningful to give average weights because there is a "cline" in size from Spitzbergen, where the bears are smallest, to the Bering Strait where they are largest."
• "I speculate that, at least in the western half of Eurasia, Europe and Africa, there is a "cline" running from, say, Finland in the north to sub-Saharan Africa in the south, of decreasing personal tendency toward monogamousness."
• "I agreeand I see sex workers as often as possible. kimberlee cline, on January 20, 2010 at 8: 48 pm Said:"