1. Plural of cladism; evolutionary systems or classifications based on cladistics, the study of evolutionary relationships among organisms through shared derived characteristics.
Usage: technical; biology; plural form

Examples

• Modern cladisms have revolutionized how biologists understand the relationships between different species.
• The competing cladisms proposed by different research teams led to interesting debates about dinosaur evolution.
• Cladisms rely on identifying shared characteristics that evolved in common ancestors.
• These cladisms provide a more accurate picture of evolutionary history than older classification methods.