cloning

Word family

• clone
  nounC1
• clone
  verbC1
• clonal
  adjectiveC2
• cloner
  nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/2

For verb sense 2, cloning is more technical than copy and usually suggests making a near-exact working version, especially in computing or hardware. Copy is the broad everyday choice and can describe anything from a note to a folder. Duplicate also means making a second version, but it often focuses on identity rather than technical function. Replicate is common in science and research, where the focus is repeating a process or result. You can clone a hard drive for testing, duplicate a key for a friend, or replicate an experiment in another lab.

Common collocations

Etymology

Cloning comes from clone, a scientific word that goes back to the Greek word klon, meaning a twig or young branch. Early plant scientists used the idea of a shoot growing from a parent plant to describe making a genetically matching new organism from existing cells.