ontology
n.n. a system of ideas that explains what things exist and how they are related. It is like a map of all the different types of things in the world and how they connect.
n. a branch of metaphysics concerned with the nature of existence and the categories of being. In computer science, it refers to a formal representation of knowledge as a set of concepts within a domain and the relationships between those concepts.
The philosopher spent years developing a new ontology of the mind.
The software uses a medical ontology to ensure that all patient records use the same standard terms for diagnoses.
By establishing a shared ontology, the research team was able to integrate data from various sources, allowing the AI to recognize patterns that individual databases had previously missed.
Learned borrowing from New Latin ontologia (1606, Ogdoas Scholastica, by Jacob Lorhard (Lorhardus)), from Ancient Greek ὤν, ὄντος (ṓn, óntos, “being”), present participle of εἰμί (eimí, “being, existing, essence”) + λόγος (lógos, “account”). By surface analysis, onto- + -logy. First known English use 1663: Archelogia philosophica nova; or, New principles of Philosophy. Containing Philosophy in general, Metaphysicks or Ontology, Dynamilogy or a Discourse of Power, Religio Philosophi or Natural Theology, Physicks or Natural philosophy, by Gideon Harvey (1636–1702), London, Thomson, 1663. Popularized as a philosophical term by German philosopher Christian Wolff (1679–1754).