clade

noun

: 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 This particular bird flu virus originated in China in 1996, but the clade — or subvariant, known as 2.3.4.4b — found in U.S. dairy cattle became dominant in 2020. Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 12 May 2024 How regulators and farmers are working to contain the spread The USDA believes the dairy cows have been sickened by a strain called H5N1, Eurasian lineage goose/Guangdong clade 2.3.4.4b, which was likely introduced by wild birds. Joe Hernandez, NPR, 31 Mar. 2024 In 2020, all the precautions that helped people avoid Covid had an unexpected benefit: An entire branch of the flu’s family tree, a B strain that geneticists call the Yamagata clade, disappeared, and it hasn’t been detected since. Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 5 Mar. 2024 With the fossils, researchers suspect that all pterosaur clades in the Jurassic evolved before the end of the Early Jurassic era. Elizabeth Gamillo, Discover Magazine, 6 Feb. 2024 There were two types (or clades) of the infection observed—a Congo Basin clade (more severe and easily spread) and a West African clade (milder). Emma Specter, Vogue, 27 June 2022 By late 2022 and into 2023, the brutal clade 2.3.4.4b virus in South America had killed at least about 600,000 birds and 50,000 mammals—and likely many more, scientists say. Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 12 Feb. 2024 Within that clade, most of these species are from the class Clostridia in the phylum Firmicutes, a phylum of bacteria important to gut health. Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 27 Jan. 2024 In the late Triassic, a clade of large reptiles, Pseudosuchia, were widespread in equatorial and tropical regions. Gabe Allen, Discover Magazine, 15 Sep. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'clade.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Greek klados

First Known Use

1911, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of clade was in 1911

Dictionary Entries Near clade

Cite this Entry

“Clade.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clade. Accessed 24 May. 2024.

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