Adjacent Words

Genus definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

GE'NUS, n. plu. genuses or genera. [L. genus. See Gender.]
1. In logic, that which has several species under it; a class of a greater extent than species; a universal which is predicable of several things of different species.
2. In natural history, an assemblage of species possessing certain characters in common, by which they are distinguished from all others. It is subordinate to class and order,and some arrangements, to tribe and family. A single species, possessing certain peculiar characters,which belong to no other species, may also constitute a genus; as the camelopard,and the flamingo.
3. In botany, a genus is a subdivision containing plants of the same class and order, which agree in their parts of fructification.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a general kind of something; "ignore the genus communism"
2: (biology) taxonomic group containing one or more species

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural genera; also genuses) Etymology: Latin gener-, genus birth, race, kind — more at kin Date: 1551 1. a class, kind, or group marked by common characteristics or by one common characteristic; specifically a category of biological classification ranking between the family and the species, comprising structurally or phylogenetically related species or an isolated species exhibiting unusual differentiation, and being designated by a Latin or latinized capitalized singular noun 2. a class of objects divided into several subordinate species

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. genera) 1 Biol. a taxonomic grouping of organisms having common characteristics distinct from those of other genera, usu. containing several or many species and being one of a series constituting a taxonomic family. 2 a kind or class having common characteristics. 3 Logic kinds of things including subordinate kinds or species. Etymology: L genus -eris birth, race, stock

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Genus Ge"nus (j[=e]"n[u^]s), n.; pl. Genera. [L., birth, race, kind, sort; akin to Gr. ?. See Gender, and cf. Benign.] 1. (Logic) A class of objects divided into several subordinate species; a class more extensive than a species; a precisely defined and exactly divided class; one of the five predicable conceptions, or sorts of terms. 2. (Biol.) An assemblage of species, having so many fundamental points of structure in common, that in the judgment of competent scientists, they may receive a common substantive name. A genus is not necessarily the lowest definable group of species, for it may often be divided into several subgenera. In proportion as its definition is exact, it is natural genus; if its definition can not be made clear, it is more or less an artificial genus. Note: Thus in the animal kingdom the lion, leopard, tiger, cat, and panther are species of the Cat kind or genus, while in the vegetable kingdom all the species of oak form a single genus. Some genera are represented by a multitude of species, as Solanum (Nightshade) and Carex (Sedge), others by few, and some by only one known species. Subaltern genus (Logic), a genus which may be a species of a higher genus, as the genus denoted by quadruped, which is also a species of mammal. Summum genus [L.] (Logic), the highest genus; a genus which can not be classed as a species, as being.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(genera) A genus is a class of similar things, especially a group of animals or plants that includes several closely related species. (TECHNICAL) N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Group (subordinate to a class, tribe, or order), assemblage of species. 2. (Log.) Relative, universal, kind or sort or class to which particulars belong.

Moby Thesaurus

antonomasia, binomial nomenclature, biosystematics, biosystematy, biotype, blood, branch, brand, breed, cast, character, clan, class, classification, color, denomination, description, designation, family, feather, form, genotype, genre, glossology, grain, ilk, kidney, kin, kind, kingdom, label, line, lot, make, manner, mark, mold, nature, nomenclature, number, onomastics, onomatology, order, orismology, persuasion, phylum, place-names, place-naming, polyonymy, race, section, series, shape, sort, species, stamp, strain, stripe, style, subclass, subfamily, subgenus, subkingdom, suborder, subspecies, subtribe, superclass, superfamily, superorder, superspecies, systematics, taxonomy, terminology, the like of, the likes of, toponymy, tribe, trinomialism, type, variety