cline

¹ American  

[klahyn] / klaɪn /

noun

1. Biology.  the gradual change in certain characteristics exhibited by members of a series of adjacent populations of organisms of the same species.

2. Linguistics.  (in systemic linguistics) a scale of continuous gradation; continuum.

---

Cline ² American  

[klahyn] / klaɪn /

noun

1. Patsy Virginia Patterson Hensley, 1932–63, U.S. country singer.

---

-cline ¹ British  

combining form

1. indicating a slope

   anticline

---

cline ² British  

/ klaɪn /

noun

1. a continuous variation in form between members of a species having a wide variable geographical or ecological range

---

Cline ³ British  

/ klaɪn /

noun

1. Patsy , original name Virginia Patterson Hensley . 1932–63, US country singer; her bestselling records include "Walking After Midnight", "I Fall to Pieces", and "Leavin' On Your Mind"

---

cline Scientific  

/ klīn /

1. A gradual change in an inherited characteristic across the geographic range of a species, usually correlated with an environmental transition such as altitude, temperature, or moisture. For example, the body size in a species of warm-blooded animals tends to be larger in cooler climates (a latitudinal cline), while the flowering time of a plant may tend to be later at higher altitudes (an altitudinal cline). In species in which the gene flow between adjacent populations is high, the cline is typically smooth, whereas in populations with restricted gene flow the cline usually occurs as a series of relatively abrupt changes from one group to the next.

---

Other Word Forms

• -clinal combining form
• clinal adjective
• clinally adverb

Etymology

Origin of cline

1935–40; < Greek klī́nein to lean ¹

Example Sentences

This sentimental and self-indulgent social-dance affair to musical selections from Antonín Dvořák, Patsy Cline, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder and Donna Summer goes nowhere, repeatedly.

From The Wall Street Journal

Someone like Cowboy Copas—who would die in the 1963 plane crash that killed Patsy Cline—is the kind of now-obscure King artist Mr. Oyediran revisits.

From The Wall Street Journal

She’s a walking cupcake — in this genre, a disposable-seeming treat — yet the way Madelyn Cline plays her is fabulous.

From Los Angeles Times

The comedian — whose high-profile exes include Ariana Grande, Kim Kardashian, Madelyn Cline, Kate Beckinsale, Margaret Qualley, Kaia Gerber and Phoebe Dynevor — has a few projects lined up this year, including a starring role in the horror movie “The Home,” out July 25.

From Los Angeles Times

Cinematographer Bianca Cline took over as director of photography when production resumed in Montana about 18 months after Hutchins’ death.

From Los Angeles Times