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• n  a classification of organisms into groups based on similarities of structure or origin etc
• n  (biology) study of the general principles of scientific classification
• n  practice of classifying plants and animals according to their presumed natural relationships

• In this taxonomy, George Clooney is a family heirloom.
• The struggle to identify the critter displays not only the mystery of nature, but also the fickleness of the science of taxonomy.
• The deep bench of its cast provides a pointillistic taxonomy of American office life (who doesn't work with an Angela, a Kevin or a Stanley?).

News & Articles

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• Questlove Breaks Down New York’s Fried-Chicken Scene in Six Easy Steps
  Man about town. Roots drummer and budding restaurateur Ahmir Thompson, who's better known to the world as Questlove, takes to Immaculate Infatuation to cheekily plug his Chelsea Market fried-chicken stand, in the process revealing an ad hoc taxonomy of his picks for the city's best fried chicken. Onetime rival David Chang gets high marks for his spiced variety at Momofuku , Blue Ribbon and En ...
  June 7, 2013 - New York Magazine

Quotes

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• Alfred Kinsey in The Independent Weekly
  Sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, author of the highly regarded Kinsey Reports, wrote: "The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats. It is a fundamental of taxonomy that nature rarely deals with discrete categories...... The living world is a...
• David Reich in Philadelphia Inquirer
  We've avoided using taxonomy,said geneticist David Reich of Harvard Medical School, part of the team announcing the findings.
• EO Wilson in Science News
  Hence, Wilson wrote in an early proposal for the encyclopedia, people "assume taxonomy all but wound down generations ago."