biological

biology +‎ -ical

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌbaɪ.ə(ʊ)ˈlɒd͡ʒ.ɪ.kəl/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌbaɪ.əˈlɑ.d͡ʒɪ.kəl/

biological (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to biology.
   • 2012 March-April, John T. Jost, “Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, page 162:

     He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record. With this biological framework in place, Corning endeavors to show that the capitalist system as currently practiced in the United States and elsewhere is manifestly unfair.

2. Related by consanguinity, especially as to parents and children.
3. (proscribed, an error in non-native speakers' English) Organic (grown without agrochemicals).
   • 2013, J. Hemmelskamp, K. Rennings, and F. Leone (eds.), Innovation-Oriented Environmental Regulation: Theoretical Approaches and Empirical Analysis, p. 49:

     The market for cosmetics with natural ingredients in which the body shop is so successful is still a small one, as is the market for biological food products (1 per cent in the Netherlands).

biological (plural biologicals)

1. (rare) A biological product.
   • 1917, Lilly, Eli & Company, Indianapolis, A.B.C. Course on Biologicals, page 5

     This elementary treatise on biologicals was designed primarily for the instruction of Lilly salesmen to enable them to handle the biological line intelligently.

• biologic

• adoptive
• birth mother