From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishclinecline /klaɪn/ noun [countable] technical MEASUREa series of very small differences in a group of things of the same kind SYN continuum
Examples from the Corpus
cline• The colouring of Scandinavian cattle in the past was also characteristic in that many showed variations of the colour-sided cline.• In other words, the disposition of the reader is a factor in moving along the cline in either direction.• However, the further rightwards along the cline a metaphor is located, the greater is the potential for multiple interpretations.• The cline is represented in Figure 1.Origin cline (1900-2000) Greek klinein “to lead” 