arborescent

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   resembling a tree in form, growth, or branching structure

   An arborescent fern rose above the smaller plants on a slender trunk.

2. 2
   adj

   organized as a hierarchical branching structure rather than as a network

   The theorist contrasted an arborescent model of knowledge with a decentralized web of relations.

From Latin arborescens, the present participle of arborescere, to become a tree, from arbor, tree. The philosophical sense applies the image of a branching genealogical tree to centralized, hierarchical systems of thought.

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