cladist

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/ˈkleɪdɪst/

noun

A biologist who studies clades, an evolutionary biologist who studies the pattern of species interrelationships according to the principles of cladistics.

Scrabble 10
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Meanings

nouncladist (plural cladists)

plural cladists

  1. systematicsA biologist who studies clades, an evolutionary biologist who studies the pattern of species interrelationships according to the principles of cladistics.

    The pheneticist and evolutionist classify species and genera in this manner. Not so the cladist, who deals with the unknown quantities produced by phylo-genetic splits.

    1997, Ernst Mayr, Evolution and the Diversity of Life: Selected Essays, page 448

Origin

From clade + -ist.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

cladist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cladist

MLA

“cladist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cladist. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cladist,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cladist.

Source: cladist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.