Stratify

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈstratɪfʌɪ/

Definitions

1. To organize items into different tiers according to specific characteristics
2. To classify elements into multiple levels or types based on defined standards
3. To separate or arrange into distinct horizontal layers often based on composition or characteristics

Etymology: "Stratify" entered English as a borrowing from French "stratifier," and its core is the Latin "stratum," meaning a layer or something spread out, from "sternere," "to spread or lay down." The idea of a layer is literal in the word's earliest use: geologists applied it to rock formed in successive beds, and the verb carries that picture of material laid down in order, one stratum on another. The leap from sediment to people happened because the same layered image transferred easily. Once a thing could be seen as sorted into strata, the word could describe any arrangement of items into ranked levels. The modern sense, organizing items into tiers by specific characteristics, keeps that original picture of distinct layers stacked by a sorting principle.

Synonyms: layer, classify, categorize, arrange, organize

Antonyms: mix, disorganize, unify, blend, scatter