Ontology Definition

ŏn-tŏlə-jē
ontologies
noun
The branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being, reality, or ultimate substance.
Webster's New World
A particular theory about being or reality.
Webster's New World
Ontology is an organizational system designed to categorize and help explain the relationships between various concepts of science in the same area of knowledge and research.
YourDictionary
It is a structural framework that allows the concepts to be laid out in a way that makes sense.
YourDictionary
It helps show the connections and relationships between concepts in a manner that is generally accepted by the field.
An example of ontology is when a physicist establishes different categories to divide existing things into in order to better understand those things and how they fit together in the broader world.
YourDictionary
Synonyms:
  • the nature of being
  • philosophy of existence
  • cosmology
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Other Word Forms of Ontology

Noun

Singular:
ontology
Plural:
ontologies

Origin of Ontology

  • First known English use 1663: Archelogia philosophica nova; or, New principles of Philosophy. Containing Philosophy in general, Metaphysicks or Ontology, Dynamilogy or a Discourse of Power, Religio Philosophi or Natural Theology, Physicks or Natural philosophy, by Gideon Harvey (1636/7-1702), London, Thomson, 1663.

    From Wiktionary

  • Originally Latin ontologia (1606, Ogdoas Scholastica, by Jacob Lorhard (Lorhardus)), from Ancient Greek ὤν (ōn, “on"), present participle of εἰμί (eimi, “being, existing, essence") + λόγος (logos, “account").

    From Wiktionary

  • Popularized as a philosophical term by German philosopher Christian Wolff (1679-1754).

    From Wiktionary

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