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Definition of "clade" [clade]

  • A group of organisms, such as a species, whose members share homologous features derived from a common ancestor. (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.

Use "clade" in a sentence
  • "By definition, a clade is a group composed of a single ancestor and all its descendants."
  • "In cladistics, the clade is a hypothetical construct based on experimental data."
  • "Understanding Evolution: A clade is a grouping that includes a common ancestor and all the descendents (living and extinct) of that ancestor … Clades are nested within one another — they form a nested hierarchy."
Words like "clade"