| Category | n.; pl. Categories [ L. categoria, Gr. &unr_;, fr. &unr_; to accuse, affirm, predicate; &unr_; down, against + &unr_; to harrangue, assert, fr. &unr_; assembly. ] 1. (Logic.) One of the highest classes to which the objects of knowledge or thought can be reduced, and by which they can be arranged in a system; an ultimate or undecomposable conception; a predicament. [ 1913 Webster ] The categories or predicaments -- the former a Greek word, the latter its literal translation in the Latin language -- were intended by Aristotle and his followers as an enumeration of all things capable of being named; an enumeration by the summa genera i.e., the most extensive classes into which things could be distributed. J. S. Mill. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. Class; also, state, condition, or predicament; as, we are both in the same category. [ 1913 Webster ] There is in modern literature a whole class of writers standing within the same category. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ] |
