classification

US/ˌklæsɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/

nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,419 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: classifications

Classification is the sorting of things into groups by type. A classification system, film classification, the classification of species.

Every system embeds a set of choices about what matters, which is why librarians and biologists argue about them so fiercely. Film classification decides who may watch what, and the boards that do it are answerable in a way most systems are not.

Definitions of classification

1nounclassificationThe sorting of things into groups by type.C1
“The classification of animals into mammals, birds and reptiles is taught in primary school.”

classification is a sorting.

Where it comes from

French
classification
English, today
classification

Borrowed from French classification.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Libraries & Museums

Practise this word

classification in the wild

The decimal number classification made use of the concepts of relative location and relative index.
Dewey Decimal Classification
As of 2009 the classification system is used in 200,000 libraries in at least 135 countries.
Dewey Decimal Classification
The ICD is currently the most widely used statistical classification system for diseases in the world.
International Classification of Diseases
In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics.
Stellar classification
The specific thresholds for these classifications can vary by institution.
British undergraduate degree classification

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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