Definition of "cladistics" []

• A system of classification based on the phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history of groups of organisms. (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.

• "The term nested in cladistics is used precisely in the same sense as in nested hierarchy."
• "The basic idea behind cladistics is that members of a group share a common evolutionary history, and are "closely related," more so to members of the same group than to other organisms."
• "It also appears that the word "nested" in cladistics isn't used how the rest of the world uses the word."