Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A gradual change in a character or feature across the distributional range of a species or population, usually correlated with an environmental or geographic transition.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun biology A gradation in a character or phenotype within a species or other group.
  • noun Any graduated continuum.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Greek klīnein, to lean; see klei- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek κλίνειν (klínein, "to lean, incline") (from which also climate), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (English lean).

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Examples

  • Hate to muddy the waters, Jenny, but apparently it's not meaningful to give average weights because there is a "cline" in size from Spitzbergen, where the bears are smallest, to the Bering Strait where they are largest.

    Surfacing 2007

  • I speculate that, at least in the western half of Eurasia, Europe and Africa, there is a "cline" running from, say, Finland in the north to sub-Saharan Africa in the south, of decreasing personal tendency toward monogamousness.

    More on polygamy in France Steve Sailer 2005

  • I speculate that, at least in the western half of Eurasia, Europe and Africa, there is a "cline" running from, say, Finland in the north to sub-Saharan Africa in the south, of decreasing personal tendency toward monogamousness.

    Archive 2005-11-13 Steve Sailer 2005

  • I agreeand I see sex workers as often as possible. kimberlee cline, on January 20, 2010 at 8: 48 pm Said:

    Relevancy of Client Status « Bound, Not Gagged 2010

  • Best Billboard Hits of 1983 bobby lewis, del shannon, music 1961, patsy cline, roy orbison, Trivia

    Best Billboard Hits of 1961 | myFiveBest 2009

  • Van Lier uses this cline of consciousness to support his argument that engagement enhances learning, and that this implies a degree of heightened awareness: “If we want language learning to be a success, we must clearly ensure that receptivity and curiosity are maintained” (p. 48).

    F is for Flow « An A-Z of ELT 2010

  • “Second tier and older P2P distribution protocols, like Ares, Gnutella and DirectConnect, continued to de cline in 2008 and account for close to 10% of infringement found during the year.”

    MIT, the School with the Most (pirates) 2009

  • If you think the answer to this puzzle is a cline, rather than a single choice, then try this:

    Universe Puzzle No. 3 | Universe Today 2010

  • As the fortunes of Wall Street and the City of London de cline, moneymen are look ing east for new bases.

    Look Eastward, Bankers 2009

  • Music: patsy cline - these boots are made for walking

    he's got a mean look sittin' on in his eye, gonna shoot some poor son of a bitch just to see him die matociquala 2007

Comments

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  • Bright derision can easily grade, through a cline of glee, into a look of rapture...

    - Nabokov, Ada, or Ardor

    June 4, 2008

  • "Gradual change in frequency of genotypes and phenotypes over geographical space, usually related to a corresponding environmental change."

    - SNPA

    March 22, 2009