[phe.nom.e.nol.o.gy] n, pl -gies [G Phanomenologie, fr. Phanomenon phenomenon + -logie -logy] (ca. 1797) 1: the study of the development of human consciousness and self-awareness as a preface to philosophy or a part of philosophy
2. a (1): a philosophical movement that describes the formal structure of the objects of awareness and of awareness itself in abstraction from any claims concerning existence (2): the typological classification of a class of phenomena "the ~ of religion" b: an analysis produced by phenomenological investigation -- phe.nom.e.nol.o.gist n