View synonyms for diploid

diploid

[ dip-loid ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

Biology. an organism or cell having double the basic haploid number of chromosomes.
Crystallography. a solid belonging to the isometric system and having 24 trapezoidal planes.

diploid

/ ˈdɪplɔɪd /

biology (of cells or organisms) having pairs of homologous chromosomes so that twice the haploid number is present
double or twofold

diploid

/ dĭp′loid′ /

Having paired sets of chromosomes in a cell or cell nucleus. In diploid organisms that reproduce sexually, one set of chromosomes is inherited from each parent. The somatic cells of most animals are diploid.
Compare haploidSee Note at mitosis

Origin of diploid¹

First recorded in 1905–10; dipl(o)- + -oid

In animals, as in plants, the diploid generation attained the higher development and gradually assumed the dominant position.

The uninitiated sees in the more highly organised plants only a succession of diploid generations.

Similarly all the higher animals appear to us as independent organisms with diploid nuclei only.

They appear with this arrangement in all subsequent nuclear divisions in the diploid generation.

Diploid (2n) chromosome numbers were determined from cells in late prophase and metaphase of mitosis.

Browse