Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
chromosome
Sponsored Links The DNA Ancestry Project
Discover Your Ancestry with DNA. Find Ethnic and Geographic Origins.
www.DNAAncestryProject.com
7 dictionary results for: Chromosome
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
chro·mo·some       [kroh-muh-sohm] Pronunciation Key
–noun Genetics.
any of several threadlike bodies, consisting of chromatin, that carry the genes in a linear order: the human species has 23 pairs, designated 1 to 22 in order of decreasing size and X and Y for the female and male sex chromosomes respectively.
[Origin: 1885–90; chromo- + -some3]

—Related forms
chro·mo·so·mal, adjective
chro·mo·so·mal·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT
Sponsored Links The DNA Ancestry Project
Discover Your Ancestry with DNA. Find Ethnic and Geographic Origins.
www.DNAAncestryProject.com
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
chro·mo·some       (krō'mə-sōm')  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. A threadlike linear strand of DNA and associated proteins in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells that carries the genes and functions in the transmission of hereditary information.
  2. A circular strand of DNA in bacteria that contains the hereditary information necessary for cell life.

chro'mo·so'mal (-sō'məl), chro'mo·so'mic (-sō'mĭk) adj., chro'mo·so'mal·ly adv.
(Download Now or Buy the Book)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
chromosome 
1889, from Ger. Chromosom, coined 1888 by Ger. anatomist Wilhelm von Waldeyer-Hartz (1836-1921), from Gk. khroma "color" + soma "body." So called because the structures contain a substance that stains readily with basic dyes.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
chromosome

noun
a threadlike strand of DNA in the cell nucleus that carries the genes in a linear order; "humans have 22 chromosome pairs plus two sex chromosomes" 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT
The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
chromosome       (krō'mə-sōm')  Pronunciation Key 


(click for larger image in new window)

A structure in all living cells that consists of a single molecule of DNA bonded to various proteins and that carries the genes determining heredity. In all eukaryotic cells, the chromosomes occur as threadlike strands in the nucleus. During cell reproduction, these strands coil up and condense into much thicker structures that are easily viewed under a microscope. Chromosomes occur in pairs in all of the cells of eukaryotes except the reproductive cells, which have one of each chromosome, and some red blood cells (such as those of mammals) that expel their nuclei. In bacterial cells and other prokaryotes, which have no nucleus, the chromosome is a circular strand of DNA located in the cytoplasm.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT
American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

chromosome chro·mo·some (krō'mə-sōm')
n.

  1. A threadlike linear strand of DNA and associated proteins in the nucleus of animal and plant cells that carries the genes and functions in the transmission of hereditary information.
  2. A circular strand of DNA in bacteria and cyanobacteria that contains the hereditary information necessary for cell life.
chro'mo·so'mal (-sō'məl) or chro'mo·so'mic (-sō'mĭk) adj.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Chromosome

Chro"mo*some`\, n. [Gr. ? color + ? the body.] (Biol.) One of the minute bodies into which the chromatin of the nucleus is resolved during mitotic cell division; the idant of Weismann.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT
Share This:Share This: digg.comShare This: ma.gnolia.comShare This: www.stumbleupon.comShare This: del.icio.usShare This: FacebookShare This: favorites.live.comShare This: www.technorati.comShare This: furl.netShare This: myweb2.search.yahoo.comShare This: www.google.com
Sponsored Links The DNA Ancestry Project
Discover Your Ancestry with DNA. Find Ethnic and Geographic Origins.
www.DNAAncestryProject.com