ecology means the branch of biology dealing with the relationships of organisms with their environment and with each other.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, ecology ranks #2,357 of 14,297 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
ecology is pronounced /ɪˈkɒl.ə.d͡ʒi/.
Why “ecology” is a great word
The scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their physical environment and with one another. From the Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos, "house") + -λογία (-logía, "study of"); a calque of German Ökologie, coined in 1866 by Ernst Haeckel. Unlike "environmentalism" (which denotes a social and political movement focused on advocacy and protection) or "biology" (which refers to the broad study of all life), ecology is the patient, unsentimental science of interconnection. It is the fungal network threading through forest floor to feed distant trees, the sudden bloom of algae that chokes a lake after decades of accumulated runoff, and the precise, catastrophic consequence of removing a single predator from a food chain—a discipline that recognizes every house has walls, but no house stands alone.
Etymology
Calque of German Ökologie (coined in 1866 by Ernst Haeckel), from Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos, “house”) + -λογία (-logía, “study of”). By surface analysis, eco- + -logy.
noun
- The branch of biology dealing with the relationships of organisms with their environment and with each other.“As a graduate student, he was working on a thesis: The Ecology of the Black Creek Area. He had to investigate the relationships, past and present, of men and plants and animals in this region.”
- Any study of the relationships of components of a system with their environment and with each other.“social ecology”
- The totality or pattern of relationships of components of a system with their environment and with each other.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- ecocriticism 84% match — The interdisciplinary study of literature and ecology. vs ecology →
- symbiosis 84% match — A relationship of mutual benefit, especially among different species. vs ecology →
- biocoenosis 83% match — A community of interacting organisms that form a natural ecological unit. vs ecology →
- ecotheology 83% match — Theological explorations of the connections between religion and the environment, especially with regard to environmental concerns. vs ecology →
- biosphere 83% match — The part of the Earth and its atmosphere capable of supporting life. vs ecology →
- ecocentrism 82% match — A nature-centred, as opposed to human-centred, value system. vs ecology →
- ecotone 82% match — A transition area between two adjacent ecological communities (ecosystems). vs ecology →
- ecojustice 82% match — A form of justice that considers the rights of organisms and the natural environment in addition to those of human beings. vs ecology →