Ontologylike

Ontologylike is an adjective used in information science and related fields to describe structures, models, or datasets that resemble an ontology. An ontology, in this sense, is a formal or semi-formal specification of a domain conceptualization, including terms, their meanings, and the relationships among them. Ontologylike materials aim to capture semantic structure without necessarily meeting full formal ontological criteria.

Common ontologylike artifacts feature a defined vocabulary, concept hierarchies or taxonomies, and explicit relationships between terms. They may include mappings to other vocabularies or data sources. However, they typically lack complete formal semantics, axioms, or the capacity for automated reasoning that characterize rigorous ontologies.

Usage of the term tends to occur in discussions of data integration, knowledge graphs, and semantic web workflows, where practitioners want to signal semantic intent without committing to a fully formal ontology. Ontologylike contrasts with fully formal ontologies or ontology-based systems, which emphasize interchangeability, consistency guarantees, and reasoning capabilities.

Etymology notes: the word combines ontology with the suffix -like to indicate resemblance rather than identity. See also Ontology, Taxonomy, Conceptual model, Semantic web.