morphology

[mawr-fol-uh-jee] /mɔrˈfɒl ə dʒi/
noun
1.
the branch of biology dealing with the form and structure of organisms.
2.
the form and structure of an organism considered as a whole.
3.
Linguistics.
  1. the patterns of word formation in a particular language, including inflection, derivation, and composition.
  2. the study and description of such patterns.
  3. the study of the behavior and combination of morphemes.
4.
Physical Geography, geomorphology.
5.
the form or structure of anything:
to gain an insight into the morphology of our political system.
6.
the study of the form or structure of anything.
Origin
1820-30; morpho- + -logy; first formed in German
Related forms
morphologic
[mawr-fuh-loj-ik] /ˌmɔr fəˈlɒdʒ ɪk/ (Show IPA), morphological, adjective
morphologically, adverb
morphologist, noun
unmorphological, adjective
unmorphologically, adverb
Examples from the web for morphology
  • The sea horse's neck morphology is bent on capturing prey.
  • Their influence reaches far beyond the proper sphere of phonetics and invades that of morphology, as we shall see.
  • Animal behavior is far more plastic and variable than animal morphology.
  • The more basic question in automotive design is not materials but morphology.
  • Their morphology, and therefore their behavior, is in constant flux.
  • The section of morphology that deals with the inflections of words.
  • My curiousity is related to a question I have as to the morphology of the brain.
  • Cell morphology into specialized forms are pheromone driven, too.
  • He was a pioneer in the study of plant morphology and physiology and was author of an important work on plant fossils
  • Those conditions could easily exist in nature, he added, given the leaf-stem morphology.
British Dictionary definitions for morphology

morphology

/mɔːˈfɒlədʒɪ/
noun
1.
the branch of biology concerned with the form and structure of organisms
2.
the form and structure of words in a language, esp the consistent patterns of inflection, combination, derivation and change, etc, that may be observed and classified
3.
the form and structure of anything
Derived Forms
morphologic (ˌmɔːfəˈlɒdʒɪk), morphological, adjective
morphologically, adverb
morphologist, noun
Word Origin and History for morphology
n.

1824 in biology (from German Morphologie, 1817); 1869 in philology; from morpho- + -logy. Related: Morphological; morphologist. Related: Morphologist.

morphology in Medicine

morphology mor·phol·o·gy (môr-fŏl'ə-jē)
n.

  1. The branch of biology that deals with the form and structure of organisms without consideration of function.

  2. The form and structure of an organism or one of its parts.

mor'pho·log'i·cal (-fə-lŏj'ĭ-kəl) or mor'pho·log'ic adj.
mor·phol'o·gist n.
morphology in Science
morphology
  (môr-fŏl'ə-jē)   
The size, shape, and structure of an organism or one of its parts. Biologists usually describe the morphology of an organism separately from its physiology. In traditional systems of taxonomy, classifications were based on the morphological characteristics of organisms. However, a method of classification based purely on morphology runs the risk of grouping together organisms that are actually relatively unrelated but have evolved similar features. In more modern systems of taxonomy, the genetic similarity of organisms, studied through the methods of molecular biology, is considered in addition to morphology when establishing taxa.
morphology in Culture
morphology [(mawr-fol-uh-jee)]

The study of the structure of living things. (Compare anatomy and physiology.)