category

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: cat=e=go=ry

CIDE DICTIONARY

category, n. [L. categoria, Gr. , fr. to accuse, affirm, predicate; down, against + to harrangue, assert, fr. assembly.].

•  One of the highest classes to which the objects of knowledge or thought can be reduced, and by which they can be arranged in a system; an ultimate or undecomposable conception; a predicament.  [1913 Webster]

  "The categories or predicaments -- the former a Greek word, the latter its literal translation in the Latin language -- were intended by Aristotle and his followers as an enumeration of all things capable of being named; an enumeration by the summa genera i.e., the most extensive classes into which things could be distributed."  [1913 Webster]
•  Class; also, state, condition, or predicament; as, we are both in the same category.  [1913 Webster]

  "There is in modern literature a whole class of writers standing within the same category."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

category, n. (pl. -ies)
1 a class or division.
2 Philos. a one of a possibly exhaustive set of classes among which all things might be distributed. b one of the a priori conceptions applied by the mind to sense-impressions. c any relatively fundamental philosophical concept.

Derivative

categorial adj.

Etymology

F cat{eacute}gorie or LL categoria f. Gk kategoria statement f. kategoros accuser

THESAURUS

category

area, blood, bracket, branch, caste, clan, class, classification, department, division, estate, grade, group, grouping, head, heading, kin, kind, label, league, level, list, listing, order, pigeonhole, position, predicament, race, rank, ranking, rating, rubric, section, sector, sept, set, sort, sphere, station, status, strain, stratum, subdivision, subgroup, suborder, tier, title, type, variety

ROGET THESAURUS

category

State

N state, condition, category, estate, lot, ease, trim, mood, pickle, plight, temper, aspect, dilemma, pass, predicament, constitution, habitude, diathesis, frame, fabric, stamp, set, fit, mold, mould, mode, modality, schesis, form, tone, tenor, turn, trim, guise, fashion, light, complexion, style, character, conditional, modal, formal, structural, organic, conditionally, as the matter stands, as things are, such being the case.

Quantity

N quantity, magnitude, size, amplitude, magnitude, mass, amount, sum, quantum, measure, substance, strength, force, mathematics, mathesis, category, general conception, universal predicament, armful, handful, mouthful, spoonful, capful, stock, batch, lot, dose, yaffle, quantitative, some, any, aught, more or less, a few, to the tune of, all of, a full, the sum of, fully, exactly, precisely.

Class

N class, division, category, categorema, head, order, section, department, subdepartment, province, domain, kind, sort, genus, species, variety, family, order, kingdom, race, tribe, caste, sept, clan, breed, type, subtype, kit, sect, set, subset, assortment, feather, kidney, suit, range, gender, sex, kin, manner, description, denomination, designation, rubric, character, stamp predicament, indication, particularization, selection, specification, similarity.