clade

noun

ˈklād 

: a group of biological taxa (such as species) that includes all descendants of one common ancestor

Examples of clade in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

These antibodies, tailored to target clade C, would bind to the virus and summon immune cells to eliminate it. —David Cox, NPR, 25 Aug. 2025

Pterosaurs were a clade of flying reptiles that appeared in the Late Triassic Period. —Rosie McCall, Discover Magazine, 14 July 2025

This strategy evidently served sauropods well for 130 million years and might have been one of the underpinnings of their success and longevity as a clade. —Bronwyn Thompson, New Atlas, 11 June 2025

Filling in fossil record gaps The model suggested that, during the 18 million-year time period in question, the proportion of land the four dinosaur clades likely occupied remained constant overall, suggesting their potential habitat area remained stable, and the risk of extinction stayed low. —Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 11 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Greek kládos "branch, sprig, frond," after cladogenesis — more at clado-

Note: The term was introduced by Julian huxley in "The Three Types of Evolutionary Process," Nature, vol. 180, no. 4584 (September 7, 1957), p. 455.

First Known Use

1911, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for clade

• aid
• aide
• bade
• blade
• braid
• dade
• fade
• flayed
• fraid
• frayed
• gade
• glade