ONTOLOGY

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ontology mean? 

• ONTOLOGY (noun)
  The noun ONTOLOGY has 2 senses:

1. (computer science) a rigorous and exhaustive organization of some knowledge domain that is usually hierarchical and contains all the relevant entities and their relations

2. the metaphysical study of the nature of being and existence

  Familiarity information: ONTOLOGY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ONTOLOGY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(computer science) a rigorous and exhaustive organization of some knowledge domain that is usually hierarchical and contains all the relevant entities and their relations

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("ontology" is a kind of...):

arrangement; organisation; organization; system (an organized structure for arranging or classifying)

Domain category:

computer science; computing (the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The metaphysical study of the nature of being and existence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("ontology" is a kind of...):

metaphysics (the philosophical study of being and knowing)

Derivation:

ontological (of or relating to ontology)

 Context examples 

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) reference terminology and ontology.

(NCI Thesaurus, NCI Thesaurus)

A unique entry or term in a specific ontology.

(Ontology Concept, NCI Thesaurus)

Be positive scientists, if you please; but ontology has no place in positive science, so leave it alone.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

An object providing entry to the CMAP gene ontology.

(CMAP Ontology ID, NCI Thesaurus)

This may be a node in a taxonomy or ontology or a term in a thesaurus, etc.

(Classification Scheme Item, NCI Thesaurus)

A single entry from an ontology or a controlled vocabulary.

(Ontology Entry, NCI Thesaurus)

A data type comprised of a single code value of a concept defined and/or referenced in an external coding system, dictionary or ontology.

(Coded Value Data Type, NCI Thesaurus)