classifying

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of classify.

   The biologist is classifying each specimen by its physical traits.

   Classifying the old archive took the team several weeks.

   Note

   The -ing form does double duty. With be it builds the progressive (she is classifying the samples), and on its own it works as a noun (classifying takes patience). It carries every meaning of classify, so context has to choose between sorting things into groups, marking information secret, and even making something classy. A government classifying its files is hiding them, not sorting them.

2. 2
   adjective

   Serving to place things into categories according to their type or kind.

   The survey relies on a classifying scheme that sorts responses by theme.

   Each form includes a classifying code that assigns it to a department.

   Similarclassificatory

   Note

   An adjective that names a tool's job rather than an action in progress. A classifying scheme, code or system is one whose purpose is sorting. Before a noun it is this adjective; after be it is usually the verb form at work, as in the clerk is classifying the forms. Its longer synonym, classificatory, does the same work and cannot be mistaken for a verb.

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