category

American  

[kat-i-gawr-ee, -gohr-ee] / ˈkæt ɪˌgɔr i, -ˌgoʊr i /

noun

• categories
  plural

1. 

   any general or comprehensive division; a class.

   Synonyms:

   type, grouping, group

2. a classificatory division in any field of knowledge, as a phylum or any of its subdivisions in biology.

3. Metaphysics.

   1. (in Aristotelian philosophy) any of the fundamental modes of existence, such as substance, quality, and quantity, as determined by analysis of the different possible kinds of predication.

   2. (in Kantian philosophy) any of the fundamental principles of the understanding, as the principle of causation.

   3. any classification of terms that is ultimate and not susceptible to further analysis.

4. Also called Guggenheim. (used with a singular verb) categories. a game in which a key word and a list of categories, as dogs, automobiles, or rivers, are selected, and in which each player writes down a word in each category that begins with each of the letters of the key word, the player writing down the most words within a time limit being declared the winner.

5. Mathematics. a type of mathematical object, as a set, group, or metric space, together with a set of mappings from such an object to other objects of the same type.

6. Grammar. part of speech.

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category British  

/ ˈkætɪɡərɪ /

noun

1. a class or group of things, people, etc, possessing some quality or qualities in common; a division in a system of classification

2. metaphysics any one of the most basic classes into which objects and concepts can be analysed

3. 1. (in the philosophy of Aristotle) any one of ten most fundamental modes of being, such as quantity, quality, and substance

   2. (in the philosophy of Kant) one of twelve concepts required by human beings to interpret the empirical world

   3. any set of objects, concepts, or expressions distinguished from others within some logical or linguistic theory by the intelligibility of a specific set of statements concerning them See also category mistake

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• categories
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of category

First recorded in 1580–90; from Late Latin catēgoria, from Greek katēgoría “accusation” (in logic, “predication”), from katēgoreîn “to accuse, affirm,” from kata- cata- + agoreúein “to speak before the agora ¹ ” + -ia -y ³

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Explanation

A category is a group of things that share some commonality. Think of the game show "Jeopardy!," and how each column is a different category of questions — like "Literary Characters" or "Potent Potables." The noun category has the sense of ordering or sorting. In Biology, the science of taxonomy is all about categorizing all living organisms. It might be an easier task to categorize books in a library according to genre (e.g., fiction, non-fiction, mysteries, etc.) or to categorize the shoes in your closet according to season.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

category categories

Information jobs in the state have suffered the largest percentage downturn of any category, down 16.8%, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2026

Searching across the economy for inflation relief has been like playing Whac-A-Mole: Just as price trends cool in one category, they rise in another.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2026

In Wales, the terms "Asian Welsh" and "Black Welsh" were listed in the broad categories themselves, and respondents were able to pick "Welsh" as an option underneath the broader white category.

From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2026

In contrast, the analysis did not reveal a consistent pattern of structural changes found exclusively in dyssomnias, the category that includes insomnia and sleep apnea.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 8, 2026

“So I thought you would be perfect for the seerah questions. There’s a whole category of them.”

From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali

First, those supply shocks are filtering into a pretty broad range of categories, not just the usual suspects like airfares, and taking their time about it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2026

Speaking on Tuesday, Babarinde said his proposed law would introduce Black English and Asian English as specific new categories, arguing that the text box on the current form "may as well be the margin".

From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2026

So expect plenty of overlap here, even if Mars and Swift each submitted different songs in the two categories.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2026

The researchers divided participants into four categories based on their reported use:

From Science Daily ● Nov. 11, 2026

A gangly seventh grader, a foot taller than any of her competitors, Marjory Muldauer had memorized the ten categories of the Dewey decimal system before she entered preschool.

From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein

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Related Words

• class
• division
• grade
• group
• kind
• league
• level
• list
• rank
• section
• tier

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