I. ˈnōmənˌklāchə(r) sometimes nōˈmenkləch- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Latin nomenclatura act of calling by name, list of names, from nomenclat or + -ura -ure
1.
a. : name , appellation , designation
the patricians — mainly of Etruscan origin and nomenclature — R.A.Hall b.1911
the generally accepted nomenclature of Theileria was proposed — John Legg
whose main obsession was his nomenclature — Sydney (Australia) Bulletin
an example of the odd nomenclature of coal patches — American Guide Series: Pennsylvania
has a magnitude of nomenclature second to none — St. Clair McKelway
the changing nomenclature of her streets is even more baffling — Cornelia O. Skinner
b. : the collective names given to or borne by places in a particular area or region
whose names are preserved in the village nomenclature of the Danelaw — F.M.Stenton
2. : the act or process or an instance of naming
by an odd quirk of nomenclature — Green Peyton
problems of nomenclature
nomenclature … is at its simplest the task of assigning a name to each distinct species — R.I.Smith
3.
a. : list , catalog
no more than an annotated nomenclature of the rich and varied writings — R.L.Bruckberger
b. obsolete : vocabulary , dictionary , glossary
4.
a. : a system or set of names, designations, or symbols used by a person or group
the following nomenclature is used in the paper — A.W.Cochardt
employs a very strange nomenclature
most textual critics have refused to adopt this nomenclature — B.M.Metzger
b. : a system or set of names or designations used in a particular science, discipline, or art and formally adopted or sanctioned by the usage of its practitioners : terminology
the course includes a survey of the nature of law; its subject matter … and nomenclature — College of William & Mary Catalog
the standard nomenclature of diseases and operations — Journal American Medical Association
reflects changes in the aircraft nomenclature — William Wallrich
the nomenclatures of politics and law — E.J.Kimble
c. : an international vocabulary of New Latin names of kinds and groups of kinds of animals and plants standardized under rules set up by international commissions sponsored by the basic biological taxonomic disciplines — see binary nomenclature , binomial nomenclature ; compare family , genus , order , species ; -aceae , -ales , -idae , -inae ; taxonomy
d. : a set of chemical names that may be systematic (as according to decisions of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) or not and that aims to tell the composition and often the structure of a given compound by naming the elements, groups, radicals, or ions present and employing suffixes denoting function (as -ic and -ate for acids and salts, -ane, -ol, -one for hydrocarbons and some of their derivatives, -ine for organic bases), prefixes denoting composition (as hypo-, per-, chloro-, Greek numerical prefixes), configuration prefixes (as cis-, syn-, xylo-, meso- ), operational prefixes (as cyclo-, dehydro-, deoxy-, homo- ), arabic numbers or Greek letters for indicating structure (as positions of substituents), or Roman numerals for indicating oxidation state — see geneva system , stock system ; compare structural formula
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: name , designate