Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An evolutionary trend in the animal kingdom toward centralization of neural and sensory organs in the head or anterior region of the body.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A supposed tendency to a gradual increase in the size of the brain correlative with cultural development.
- noun In biology, a term first used by J. D. Dana to denote a tendency in the development of animals to localization of important parts in the neighborhood of the head, as by the transfer of locomotive members or limbs to or near to the head (in decapod crustaceans, for example), or the concentration of plastic force in parts composing the head, or subserving cephalic functions.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Domination of the head in animal life as expressed in the physical structure; localization of important organs or parts in or near the head, in animal development.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun biology An
evolutionary trend in which theneural andsense organs becomecentralized at one end (thehead ) of ananimal
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word cephalization.
Examples
-
The differentiation of a head region marked by sense organs and a mouth is referred to as cephalization ( "head" G), The process of cephalization has its internal effects on the nervous system.
The Human Brain Asimov, Isaac 1963
-
It had the double cephalization ratio of brain size to body size of the anthropoid apes in general and half that of man . . .
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH RICHARD DAWKINS 2009
-
It had the double cephalization ratio of brain size to body size of the anthropoid apes in general and half that of man . . .
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH RICHARD DAWKINS 2009
-
This lack of advanced cephalization is reflected internally; the nerve cord runs forward into the head region with scarcely any sign of specialization.
The Human Brain Asimov, Isaac 1963
-
It may be suggested that saponin is thus a constructive element in developing the plant from the multiplicity of floral elements to the cephalization of those organs.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 623, December 10, 1887 Various
-
Indeed, this increased cephalization of animal life in the fall of the great year does suggest a kind of ripening process, the turning of the sap and milk, which had been so abundant and so riotous in the earlier period, into fibre and fruit and seed.
Time and Change John Burroughs 1879
-
They have a primitive nervous system but have the characteristic of cephalization (having all the sensory organs concentrated in the anterior or head region).
-
[2] They are made up of a knoblike head or scolex (where most of the sensory organs are located-cephalization), a short, unsegmented neck following the scolex, and multiple flat, rectangular body segments or proglottids forms the strobila.
-
They have a primitive nervous system but have the characteristic of cephalization (having all the sensory organs concentrated in the anterior or head region).
-
[2] They are made up of a knob-like head or scolex (where most of the sensory organs are located-cephalization), a short, unsegmented neck following the scolex, and multiple flat, rectangular body segments or proglottids forms the strobila.
quotato commented on the word cephalization
1864, coined by U.S. zoologist James D. Dana (1813-1895) from Gk. kephale "head" on model of specialization, etc.
It is harder to keep your head together when it keeps enlarging....
October 8, 2009
mollusque commented on the word cephalization
OED2 cites 1864, but Dana first used the term in 1852.
"This centralization is literally a cephalization of the forces. In the higher groups, the larger part of the whole structure is centered in the head, and contributes to head functions, that is, the functions of the senses and those of the mouth."
--James D. Dana, 1852, Crustacea. Part II. United States Exploring Expedition 13: 1397
October 9, 2009