ANALOGOUS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does analogous mean? 

• ANALOGOUS (adjective)
  The adjective ANALOGOUS has 2 senses:

1. similar or equivalent in some respects though otherwise dissimilar

2. corresponding in function but not in evolutionary origin

  Familiarity information: ANALOGOUS used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ANALOGOUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Similar or equivalent in some respects though otherwise dissimilar

Synonyms:

analogous; correspondent

Context example:

salmon roe is marketed as analogous to caviar

Similar:

similar (marked by correspondence or resemblance)

Derivation:

analogy (drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity in some respect)

analogy (an inference that if things agree in some respects they probably agree in others)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Corresponding in function but not in evolutionary origin

Context example:

the wings of a bee and those of a hummingbird are analogous

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

Antonym:

heterologous (not corresponding in structure or evolutionary origin)

homologous (having the same evolutionary origin but not necessarily the same function)

 Context examples 

This is analogous to how a boat floats on water: the amount of displaced water depends on the mass of the boat.

(What's Inside Ceres? New Findings from Gravity Data, NASA)

The array of bands obtained from a series of such amplifications is run on a high resolution gel, and the array of bands compared with analogous arrays from different samples.

(Differential Display, NCI Thesaurus)

Terms describing the degree of nuclear atypia, such as mild or severe, can be applied (analogous to distinctions between low and high grade PIN described below).

(Epithelial Atypical Hyperplasia of the Mouse Prostate Gland, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

Models used experimentally or theoretically to study molecular shape, electronic properties, or interactions; includes analogous molecules, computer-generated graphics, and mechanical structures.

(Molecular Model, NCI Thesaurus)

It seemed to partake of her soul, to have analogous attributes, and to link it to life with the slenderest of chains.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

A substance made from living organisms or things they produce, for example: virus, therapeutic serum, toxin, antitoxin, vaccine, blood, blood component or derivative, allergenic product, or analogous product.

(Biological agent, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

ICAT data, which is analogous to that obtained via the use of two different fluorescent dyes in DNA microarray analysis of mRNA or DIGE analysis of protein expression, provides the corresponding ratio for the level of expression of the parent protein in the control versus experimental sample.

(Isotope-Coded Affinity Tag Protein Analysis, NCI Thesaurus)

Disease analogous to kinds of human diseases in the WHO classification of human lymphoid and hematopoietic neoplasms; Genetically Determined; Meets criteria for Non-lymphoid leukemia, Non-lymphoid hematopoietic sarcoma, myeloid proliferation (non-reactive) or myeloid dysplasia; Neoplastic; Non-lymphoid or bi-phenotypic; Non-reactive; Persistent

(Non-Lymphoid Hematopoietic Neoplasm of Mouse, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

Myelin is a protein-rich sheath that coats the axis of a nerve cell, analogous to the plastic coating that surrounds electrical wiring, and is essential to fast nerve conduction in the brain and body.

(Young people at risk of addiction show differences in key brain region, University of Cambridge)

The relationship between growth rate and lifespan is analogous to the relationship between heart rate and lifespan seen in the animal kingdom: animals with quicker heart rates tend to grow faster but have shorter lives on average.

(Amount of carbon stored in forests reduced as climate warms, University of Cambridge)