Disclusions

Disclusions is a term used in several disciplines to refer to the act or result of excluding items from a set, category, or consideration. Because it is not a standardized technical term, its precise meaning varies by field. In general, disclusion can be described as the counterpart to inclusion or selection within a broader classification or decision process.

In information processing and data analysis, disclusions describe operations that remove candidates, features, or records from consideration, often to simplify models or enforce constraints. Examples include data cleaning, feature filtering, and rule-based exclusion in decision systems.

In logic and philosophy, some authors use disclusion to describe the deliberate exclusion of alternatives or counterexamples from a deliberative process, though more common terms are exclusion or negation. In formal logic, disclusion tends to appear mainly in methodological discussions rather than as a standard operation.

In dentistry, the term most commonly used is disocclusion or disclusion, describing the mechanical separation of posterior teeth during jaw movements. Clinically, the timing and extent of disclusion are analyzed to assess occlusal harmony and wear risk. The plural disclusions can refer to multiple disocclusion events during movements.

Etymology: from Latin dis- meaning apart and cludere meaning to close; the form reflects the idea of closing off or excluding something.

See also: Exclusion, Inclusion, Occlusion, Feature selection, Argumentation theory.