Word.ws English Dictionary

teleonomy

/ˌtɛliˈɒnəmi/

teleonomy noun: the quality of living organisms of seeming to be organized towards the attainment of an end.

Noun

teleonomy (usually uncountable, plural teleonomies)

  1. (usually, evolutionary theory) The quality of living organisms of seeming to be organized towards the attainment of an end.

Forms of teleonomy

pluralteleonomies

Origin of teleonomy

From teleo- + -nomy. Coined by biologist Colin Pittendrigh in 1958, who wanted to limit the much older term "teleology" to actions planned by an agent who can internally model alternative futures with intention, purpose and foresight.

Words formed from teleonomy

Words that rhyme with teleonomy

19 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about teleonomy

What does teleonomy mean?
Teleonomy means the quality of living organisms of seeming to be organized towards the attainment of an end.
What part of speech is teleonomy?
Teleonomy is a noun.
How do you pronounce teleonomy?
Teleonomy is pronounced /ˌtɛliˈɒnəmi/.
What is the plural of teleonomy?
The plural of teleonomy is teleonomies.

Words near teleonomy in the dictionary

  1. teleonomic
  2. teleonomically
  3. teleonomies
  4. teleonomist
  5. teleonomists
  6. teleonomy
  7. teleop
  8. teleopeptide
  9. teleoperate
  10. teleoperated
  11. teleoperates

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: teleonomy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “teleonomy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/teleonomy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.