1. (in the Bible) the tree in the Garden of Eden bearing fruit which gave eternal life (Gen. 3:22–24).
▪ a branching, treelike structure representing the evolutionary divergence of all living creatures: "the migration of small populations to new areas could be seen as the chief cause of the branchings in the tree of life"
▪ (in the Kabbalah) a diagram in the form of a tree bearing spheres which represent the sephiroth.
