ontology

noun

Meaning

The philosophical study of the nature of being, existence, or reality, or a formal system for categorizing the entities and relationships within a specific domain of knowledge.

Examples

  • The professor's lecture explored the ontology of time and whether it exists independently of human perception.
  • Engineers developed a shared ontology to help different artificial intelligence systems understand the same medical terminology.

Synonyms: metaphysics, classification, taxonomy, framework