biological

Pluralbiologicals

1. 1
   adjective

   Concerning biology: the study of living organisms and the processes that sustain them.

   Her research focuses on the biological processes that control aging.

   The team published a major biological study on coral reefs.

2. 2
   adjective

   Connected by blood relationship, especially between parents and their offspring.

   He learned that his biological father lived in another country.

   Adopted children sometimes set out to find their biological relatives.

   Similarnatural

   Oppositeadoptive

3. 3
   adjective

   Relating to anatomy: the structure and arrangement of the body's parts.

   The lecture covered the biological organization of muscle and bone.

   Surgeons must understand the biological arrangement of organs in the abdomen.

   Similaranatomical

   Note

   Here the word sits in some of the most contested phrases in current English: biological sex and a biological male. Kim Elsesser's Forbes column "The Myth of Biological Sex" (2020) argues that the category is less straightforward than it sounds, while political speech uses biological male as a pointed label. The phrase now signals a position, so choose it deliberately rather than as a neutral stand-in for the general scientific sense.

4. 4
   adjectivenonstandard

   Produced or grown without synthetic agrochemicals; organic.

   The café advertises biological coffee sourced from small farms.

   Many shoppers prefer biological produce that is free from synthetic sprays.

   Similarorganic

   Note

   A non-native usage that standard English rejects. Food grown without synthetic agrochemicals is called organic, and phrases like biological food or biological farming read as mistakes to native readers. The usage still appears in print, as in a 2013 volume edited by J. Hemmelskamp, K. Rennings and F. Leone, which gives a Dutch market share for biological food products. In your own writing, use organic.

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