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

The bones closely resemble those belonging to the two recognized North American species of Shuvosauridae, a clade of ancient bipedal reptiles that lived through the Late Triassic. —Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 26 May 2026

The mechanism has been invoked eight times in twenty years, for H1N1 (2009), polio (2014), Ebola in West Africa (2014), Zika (2016), Ebola in Kivu (2019), COVID-19 (2020), mpox (2022), and mpox again for clade I (2024). —John Drake, Forbes.com, 19 May 2026

There are two strains, clade I and clade II but both are transmitted and treated in the same way, the CDC says. —Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 14 May 2026

Mpox is an illness caused by the monkeypox virus, which comes in two strains called clades, the Mayo Clinic said. —Don Sweeney, Sacbee.com, 21 Apr. 2026

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

1957, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for clade

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