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• cline
  cline

  noun

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

  noun

  Patsy Virginia Patterson Hensley, 1932–63, U.S. country singer.
• -cline
  -cline

  combining form

  indicating a slope

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.

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Cline ² American  

[klahyn] / klaɪn /

noun

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

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-cline ¹ British  

combining form

1. indicating a slope

   anticline

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cline ² British  

/ klaɪn /

noun

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

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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"

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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.

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Other Word Forms

• clinal
  adjective
• clinally
  adverb
• -clinal
  combining form

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Etymology

Origin of cline

1935–40; < Greek klī́nein to lean ¹

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Explanation

In biology, a cline is a gradual change in a trait or characteristic across a population of a species. This gradient occurs over a geographic area where environmental factors, such as altitude or temperature, vary. One example of a cline is the variation in zebra stripes across Africa. In the North, zebras have bold, black-and-white stripes over their entire bodies. Moving south, the stripes become fainter and more brownish-gray. In the most southern regions, their stripes are even more faded, and the lower legs are solid white. In a cline, there is no abrupt, sudden change; rather, traits change gradually across a spectrum based on the animal's geographic range.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cline Cline

For example, a latitudinal cline is the decrease in temperature towards the Earth’s poles, and an altitudinal cline is the decrease in temperature with increase in altitude.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

Explain what a cline is and identify an example.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

Therefore, the observation of an Africa-based phoneme inventory cline does not generalize to other linguistic characteristics of a similar kind.

From Science Magazine ● Feb. 9, 2012

Rather than the gradual global cline predicted under a serial founder effect, fitting a quadratic model will tend to identify steeper localized gradients in phonemic diversity.

From Science Magazine ● Feb. 9, 2012

Remarks.—In this subspecies there is a cline in color from dark in extreme southwestern Wyoming to pale in north-central Wyoming and Montana as the range of M. p. insperatus is approached.

From Subspeciation in the Meadow Mouse, Microtus pennsylvanicus, in Wyoming, Colorado, and Adjacent Areas by Sydney Anderson

Ms. Cline recounts it all without looking away.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

Other country singers had enjoyed crossover success, including Patsy Cline and Glen Campbell.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

Apa's famous friends left apparent messages of support under his post, including his Map That Leads to You co-star Madelyn Cline, who wrote: "Identify theft is not a joke."

From BBC ● May 7, 2026

The site is the second-largest gas field in the world, according to British energy consultancy Gaffney, Cline and Associates, behind only South Pars, shared by Iran and Qatar.

From Barron's ● Apr. 21, 2026

Patsy Cline can’t even be heard on the radio anymore, for all the rocks banging the side of the car.

From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

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