Meanings
plural classifications
- countableuncountableThe act of forming into a class or classes; a distribution into groups, as classes, orders, families, etc., according to some common relations or attributes.
Near-synonyms: categorization, classifying, categorizing, typing, sorting
2 more examples
On those remote pages it is written that animals are divided into (a) those that belong to the Emperor, (b) embalmed ones, (c) those that are trained, (d) suckling pigs, (e) mermaids, (f) fabulous ones, (g) stray dogs, (h) those that are included in this classification, (i) those that tremble as if they were mad, (j) innumerable ones, (k) those drawn with a verfy fine camel's hair brush, (l) others, (m) those that have just broken a flower vase, (n) those that resemble flies from a distance.
1937-1952, Jorge Luis Borges, Other InquisitionsI’m using mathesis — a universal science of measurement and order … And there is also taxinomia a principle of 'classification' and ordered tabulation. Knowledge replaced universal resemblance with finite differences. History was arrested and turned into tables … Western reason had entered the age of judgement.
1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 69 (Totem Books, Icon Books; →ISBN)Synonyms: categorization, classifying, categorizing, typing, sorting
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe act of forming into a class or classes; a distribution into groups, as classes, orders, families, etc., according to some common relations or attributes.
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe act of distributing things into classes or categories of the same type
nouna group of people or things arranged by class or category
nounthe basic cognitive process of arranging into classes or categories
nounrestriction imposed by the government on documents or weapons that are available only to certain authorized people
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*kelh₁-
- Proto-Italic*klāssis
- Latinclassi
- Frenchclasse
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
- Proto-Italic*θakos
- Frenchclassifier
- Frenchclassification
- Englishclassification
Borrowed from French classification.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans klassifikasie
- klassifikasieact of forming into classes
Arabic تَصْنِيف
- تَصْنِيف (taṣnīf)act of forming into classes
Bulgarian класифика́ция
- класифика́ция (klasifikácija)act of forming into classes
Catalan classificació
- classificacióact of forming into classes
Chinese Mandarin 分類 /分类
- 分類 /分类 (fēnlèi)act of forming into classes
Czech klasifikace
- klasifikaceact of forming into classes
Dutch classificatie
- classificatieact of forming into classes
Esperanto klasado
- klasadoact of forming into classes
Finnish luokittelu
- luokitteluact of forming into classes
French classification
- classificationact of forming into classes
German Klassifikation, Klassifizierung
- Klassifikationact of forming into classes
- Klassifizierungact of forming into classes
Greek ταξινόμηση, κατάταξη
- ταξινόμηση (taxinómisi)act of forming into classes
- κατάταξη (katátaxi)act of forming into classes
Hungarian osztályozás, besorolás
- osztályozásact of forming into classes
- besorolásact of forming into classes
- beosztásact of forming into classes
- minősítésact of forming into classes
- meghatározásact of forming into classes
- klasszifikációact of forming into classes
Indonesian klasifikasi
- klasifikasiact of forming into classes
Irish aicmiú
- aicmiúact of forming into classes
Italian classificazione
- classificazioneact of forming into classes
Japanese 分類
- 分類 (bunrui)act of forming into classes
Korean 분류
- 분류 (bullyu)act of forming into classes
Latin classificatio, descriptio
- classificatioact of forming into classes
- descriptioact of forming into classes
Latvian klasifikācija
- klasifikācijaact of forming into classes
Lithuanian klasifikacija
- klasifikacijaact of forming into classes
Malay pengelasan
- pengelasanact of forming into classes
Māori whakarōpūtanga, kōmakahanga
- whakarōpūtangaact of forming into classes
- kōmakahangaact of forming into classes
Norwegian Bokmål klassifikasjon, inndeling
- klassifikasjonact of forming into classes
- inndelingact of forming into classes
Persian ردهبندی
- ردهبندی (rade-bandi)act of forming into classes
Polish klasyfikacja
- klasyfikacjaact of forming into classes
Portuguese classificação
- classificaçãoact of forming into classes
Punjabi ਵਰਗੀਕਰਨ
- ਵਰਗੀਕਰਨ (vargīkaran)act of forming into classes
Romanian clasificare, clasificație
- clasificareact of forming into classes
- clasificațieact of forming into classes
Russian классифика́ция, классифици́рование
- классифика́ция (klassifikácija)act of forming into classes
- классифици́рование (klassificírovanije)act of forming into classes
Slovak klasifikácia
- klasifikáciaact of forming into classes
Spanish clasificación
- clasificaciónact of forming into classes
Swahili uainishaji
- uainishajiact of forming into classes
Swedish klassifikation, klassificering
- klassifikationact of forming into classes
- klassificeringact of forming into classes
Tagalog palaurian
- palaurianact of forming into classes
Turkish sınıflandırma
- sınıflandırmaact of forming into classes
Ukrainian класифіка́ція
- класифіка́ція (klasyfikácija)act of forming into classes
Vietnamese sự phân loại
- sự phân loạiact of forming into classes
Welsh dosbarthiad
- dosbarthiadact of forming into classes
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with classification
Cite this entry
classification. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/classification
“classification.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/classification. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “classification,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/classification.
Source: classification on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.