Definitions

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

  • noun The quality or condition of being homologous.
  • noun A homologous relationship or correspondence.
  • noun The relation of the elements of a periodic family or group.
  • noun The relation of the organic compounds forming a homologous series.
  • noun Mathematics A topological classification of configurations into distinct types that imposes an algebraic structure or hierarchy on families of geometric figures.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In chem., the relationship which the members of a homologous series bear to one another.
  • noun The state or character of being homologous; correspondence.
  • noun In geometry, the relation between two corresponding figures lying in the same plane which are such that corresponding points are collinear With a fixed point called the center of homology, while corresponding lines intersect on a fixed line called the axis of homology.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality of being homologous; correspondence; relation.
  • noun (Biol.) Correspondence or relation in type of structure in contradistinction to similarity of function; as, the relation in structure between the leg and arm of a man; or that between the arm of a man, the fore leg of a horse, the wing of a bird, and the fin of a fish, all these organs being modifications of one type of structure.
  • noun (Chem.) The correspondence or resemblance of substances belonging to the same type or series; a similarity of composition varying by a small, regular difference, and usually attended by a regular variation in physical properties; , all members of the paraffin series. In an extended sense, the term is applied to the relation between chemical elements of the same group. Cf. Heterology.
  • noun (Biol.) the higher relation which a series of parts, or a single part, bears to the fundamental or general type on which the group is constituted.
  • noun (Biol.) representative or repetitive relation in the segments of the same organism, -- as in the lobster, where the parts follow each other in a straight line or series.
  • noun (Biol.) the correspondence of a part or organ with those of a different animal, as determined by relative position and connection.

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

  • noun A homologous relationship.
  • noun biology A correspondence of structures in two life forms with a common evolutionary origin, such as flippers and hands.
  • noun chemistry The relationship between the elements in the same group of the periodic table, or between organic compounds in a homologous series.
  • noun mathematics A theory associating a system of quotient groups to each topological space.
  • noun mathematics A system of quotient groups associated to a topological space.
  • noun genetics The presence of the same series of bases in related genes.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the quality of being similar or corresponding in position or value or structure or function

Etymologies

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

[Greek homologiā, agreement, from homologos, agreeing; see homologous.]

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Examples

  • a part or organ in a different animal; the determination of which homology indicates that such animals are constructed on a common type; when, for example, the correspondence of the basilar process of the human occipital bone with the distinct bone called 'basi-occipital' in a fish or crocodile is shown, the _special homology_ of that process is determined.

    Form and Function A Contribution to the History of Animal Morphology

  • By the term homology he expresses the unity or identity of character between the bones so answering to one another in different animals.

    Theism: The Witness of Reason and Nature to an All-Wise and Beneficent Creator. 1823-1886 1855

  • Knowledge of homology is certainly very useful, can give us a good idea of the path of descent, and can constrain our hypotheses.

    A New Book 2010

  • I may be interpreting you wrong, but are you saying that because of the tacit admission that the genetic code and ribosomes and the like evolved multiple times, pretty much anything can evolve that many times independently and therefore the logic used to infer molecular homology, namely that homology is the only logical way to explain the molecular uniformity when there are so many different ways in principle to evolve these structures, is wrong.

    A Disclaimer for Behe? 2009

  • I replied that when molecular homology is decoupled from organismal (vertical) descent, as Woese and others have done for universally-shared characters such as the genetic code, unexpected consequences follow for inferences about the branches of the Tree of Life.

    A Disclaimer for Behe? 2009

  • I may be interpreting you wrong, but are you saying that because of the tacit admission that the genetic code and ribosomes and the like evolved multiple times, pretty much anything can evolve that many times independently and therefore the logic used to infer molecular homology, namely that homology is the only logical way to explain the molecular uniformity when there are so many different ways in principle to evolve these structures, is wrong.

    A Disclaimer for Behe? 2009

  • Knowledge of homology is certainly very useful, can give us a good idea of the path of descent, and can constrain our hypotheses.

    A New Book 2010

  • I replied that when molecular homology is decoupled from organismal (vertical) descent, as Woese and others have done for universally-shared characters such as the genetic code, unexpected consequences follow for inferences about the branches of the Tree of Life.

    A Disclaimer for Behe? 2009

  • Analogy vs. homology is how biologists draw family trees.

    Categorical denials Matthew Guerrieri 2008

  • Analogy vs. homology is how biologists draw family trees.

    Archive 2008-07-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2008

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