Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

classifier

American  
[klas-uh-fahy-er] / ˈklæs əˌfaɪ ər /

noun

  1. a person or thing that classifies.

  2. a device for separating solids of different characteristics by controlled rates of settling.

  3. Grammar. (in Chinese, Japanese, and other languages) a word or morpheme that corresponds to a semantic class of nouns and regularly accompanies any noun of that class in certain syntactic constructions, such as those of numeration.


Etymology

Origin of classifier

First recorded in 1810–20; classify + -er 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The success of machines like the Dorr classifier and Dorr thickener led to the Dorr Company and the Dorr Foundation, where he would make his most enduring mark on society.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 4, 2026

"My team is currently developing a tear-protein-based classifier that can differentiate brain cancer patients from healthy volunteers with high levels of accuracy," she said.

From BBC Sep. 28, 2025

An algorithm known as a classifier automatically categorizes content, allowing Character.AI to identify words that might violate its rules and filter conversations.

From Los Angeles Times Feb. 25, 2025

The MIT team's insight is that this probability distribution also defines a generative model upon which a classifier can be constructed.

From Science Daily May 16, 2024

Mendel, as we shall see, was an instinctual gardener—a breeder of plants, a counter of seeds, an isolator of traits; Darwin was a garden digger—a classifier of plants, an organizer of specimens, a taxonomist.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training