homogeneous

homogeneous — adjective

1. describing a group, substance, or area whose parts or members are all of one bas

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

describing a group, substance, or area whose parts or members are all of one basic kind, so there is little noticeable variety within it

Example

The students in Ilan's class formed a surprisingly homogeneous group, with nearly everyone sharing the same academic background.

homogeneous + group — collective noun collocation

Critics argue that the village has become too homogeneous, with chain stores replacing unique local shops.

Common collocations
  • homogeneous group
  • homogeneous population
  • homogeneous society
  • homogeneous culture
  • homogeneous mixture
  • homogeneous community
  • culturally homogeneous
  • ethnically homogeneous
  • racially homogeneous
  • linguistically homogeneous
  • remarkably homogeneous
  • fairly homogeneous
  • relatively homogeneous
  • increasingly homogeneous
  • homogeneous in age
  • homogeneous in composition
Synonyms
  • uniform

    more common in everyday English; can describe appearance, quality, or standards across a set

  • consistent

    focuses on lack of contradiction or change; used for behaviour, results, or quality

  • unvarying

    emphasises absence of any change or difference; slightly more literary

Antonyms
  • heterogeneous

    the direct formal opposite; describes a mix of different kinds

  • diverse

    more common in everyday English; emphasises variety and difference

  • varied

    less formal; highlights differences within a group

Grammar Patterns

homogeneous + noun

be + homogeneous

homogeneous in + noun

Usage Note

Commonly modified by degree adverbs (fairly, remarkably, increasingly) and by domain adverbs (culturally, ethnically, linguistically). Typically appears in academic, scientific, or formal analytical writing rather than everyday conversation.

Common Mistakes

Please make sure the quality of your reports is homogeneous.
Please make sure the quality of your reports is consistent.
'homogeneous' describes the internal makeup of a group or substance, not the dependability of output across time.
These two paintings are homogeneous.
These two paintings are very similar in style.
'homogeneous' describes a single group, not the relationship between two separate items.

Word family

  • homogeneity
    nounC1
  • homogenize
    verbC1
  • homogenized
    adjectiveC1
  • homogenization
    nounC2
  • heterogeneous
    adjectiveC1
  • heterogeneity
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe a lack of difference, but they apply to different situations. Homogeneous is the most formal and technical; it describes the internal composition of a group, population, or substance and is common in academic writing (e.g. 'a homogeneous sample'). Uniform is broader — it can describe appearance, standards, or quality across items (e.g. 'the building has a uniform design'), and it sounds natural in both formal and casual contexts. Consistent emphasises stability over time or across cases and is used for behaviour, results, or performance (e.g. 'her work is consistently good'). Unvarying is the most literary and often has a slightly negative tone of dull repetition (e.g. 'the unvarying routine of the factory'). In practice, choose uniform for visual or physical sameness, consistent for dependability, homogeneous for compositional analysis, and unvarying for a poetic or critical observation about monotony.

uniform ↗consistent ↗unvarying

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • far from homogeneous
  • not entirely homogeneous
  • relatively homogeneous

Prepositions

Etymology

GreekLatinEnglish

Homogeneous comes from the Greek word homogenēs (ὁμογενής), made up of homos (same) and genos (kind, race, family). It passed into Latin as homogeneus and then into English in the early 1600s, originally used in scientific writing to describe substances with a uniform composition. The modern use for groups of people or things developed in the 1800s as social sciences borrowed the term.