homologize

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to identify or demonstrate that structures in different organisms correspond because of shared evolutionary origin

   Comparative anatomists homologize the whale's flipper bones with those of the human arm.

2. 2
   verb

   to make something homologous or cause it to correspond structurally

   The revised model homologizes each segment with the equivalent part in related species.

Formed in the early nineteenth century from homologous or homology + -ize. The family ultimately comes from Greek homologos, 'agreeing or corresponding,' from homos, 'same,' + logos, 'relation or account.'

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