Definition of "homologous" []

• Corresponding or similar in position, value, structure, or function. (adjective)
• Biology Similar in structure and evolutionary origin, though not necessarily in function, as the flippers of a seal and the hands of a human. (adjective)
• Immunology Relating to the correspondence between an antigen and the antibody produced in response to it. (adjective)
• Genetics Having the same morphology and linear sequence of gene loci as another chromosome. (adjective)
• Chemistry Belonging to or being a series of organic compounds each successive member of which differs from the preceding member by a constant increment, especially by an added CH2 group. (adjective)

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.

• "Professor Heer has not ventured to identify any of this vast assemblage of Miocene plants and insects with living species, so far at least as to assign to them the same specific names, but he presents us with a list of what he terms homologous forms, which are so like the living ones that he supposes the one to have been derived genealogically from the others."
• "Comparing aligned positions in homologous protein sequences two different behaviors are found:"
• "With the help of Evans, they both set up ES cell culture for use in homologous recombination experiments."