Word
morphological
Phoneticsmor·pho·log·i·cal
US/ˌmɔɹfəˈɫɑdʒɪkəɫ/
UK/mˌɔːfəlˈɒdʒɪkəl/
Definition
adj. relating to the form or structure of things. In biology, it describes the shape of plants or animals, and in language, it describes how words are built from smaller parts.
adj. relating to the form or structure of organisms or linguistic units. In linguistics, it concerns the internal structure of words and the rules by which they are formed.
Examples
“The two birds have many morphological similarities.”
“Linguists study morphological changes to understand how a language evolves over hundreds of years.”
“The researcher noted several morphological differences between the urban and rural populations of the species, suggesting that the city environment had influenced their physical development.”
Examples
simple
“The two birds have many morphological similarities.”
contextual
“Linguists study morphological changes to understand how a language evolves over hundreds of years.”
complex
“The researcher noted several morphological differences between the urban and rural populations of the species, suggesting that the city environment had influenced their physical development.”
Usage
Typically used in academic or scientific contexts; often precedes the noun it modifies.
Real-World Examples
“To measure morphological differences, Loftus digitized the outlines of each vessel using Elliptical Fourier Analysis, a GMM technique that captures subtle changes in shape.” “Consequently, the evolutionary pathways, morphological innovations and ecological adaptive mechanisms underlying insect terrestrialization have been poorly understood.” Etymology
From morphology + -ical.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/morphological