Technical GlossaryMachine Learning

Ordinal Classification

A classification approach that leverages the natural ordering of classes in problems where labels have an intrinsic rank.

Ordinal classification is designed for problems in which classes are not only distinct, but also ordered. Examples include customer satisfaction levels, credit risk grades, or medical severity stages. Standard multiclass classification may ignore that ordering information, whereas ordinal approaches preserve the structure among neighboring classes. This can lead to more meaningful error profiles and decision systems that better align with business reality.