biodiversity
noun
Did you know?
Biodiversity may become the rallying call for the next decade, wrote David Wake in the journal Science in 1989. Indeed, biodiversity is a word you're likely to encounter in writing about ecology and the environment today. But when Wake used it, "biodiversity" was still a relatively new addition to the English language, having first appeared in writing in the mid-1980s. Of course, the roots of biodiversity are much older. It evolved from a commingling of the descendants of the Greek noun bios, which means "mode of life," and the Latin verb divertere, which means "to turn aside" or "to go different ways."
Examples of biodiversity in a Sentence
ABC News, 8 May 2026
Initial environmental analytics work will focus on water quality, particulate emissions, geotechnical stability, tailings performance, biodiversity indicators and carbon intensity per metric ton produced.
—Nia Bowers, USA Today, 8 May 2026
In recent years Attenborough has taken a stronger stance on topics such as climate change and biodiversity loss.
—Tanya Lewis, Scientific American, 8 May 2026
Every nook and crevice of their structures, whether naturally formed or human-made, supports biodiversity.
—Erik Trinidad, Travel + Leisure, 8 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for biodiversity
Cite this Entry
“Biodiversity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biodiversity. Accessed 14 May. 2026.
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biodiversity
noun
