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Organism - 7 dictionary results

or⋅gan⋅ism

[awr-guh-niz-uh

Use Organism in a Sentence

–noun

1.	a form of life composed of mutually interdependent parts that maintain various vital processes.

2.	a form of life considered as an entity; an animal, plant, fungus, protistan, or moneran.

3.	any organized body or system conceived of as analogous to a living being: the governmental organism.

4.	any complex thing or system having properties and functions determined not only by the properties and relations of its individual parts, but by the character of the whole that they compose and by the relations of the parts to the whole.

Origin:
1655–65; organ + -ism

Related forms:

or⋅gan⋅is⋅mic, or⋅gan⋅is⋅mal, adjective

or⋅gan⋅is⋅mi⋅cal⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
4. organization, network, entity, structure.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To Organism

or·gan·ism (ôr'gə-nĭz'əm)

An individual form of life, such as a plant, animal, bacterium, protist, or fungus; a body made up of organs, organelles, or other parts that work together to carry on the various processes of life.
A system regarded as analogous in its structure or functions to a living body: the social organism.

or'gan·is'mal (-nĭz'məl), or'gan·is'mic (-mĭk) adj., or'gan·is'mi·cal·ly adv.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Organism

Or"gan*ism\, n. [Cf. F. organisme.]

1. Organic structure; organization. "The advantageous organism of the eye." --Grew.

2. (Biol.) An organized being; a living body, either vegetable or animal, compozed of different organs or parts with functions which are separate, but mutually dependent, and essential to the life of the individual.

Note: Some of the lower forms of life are so simple in structure as to be without organs, but are still called organisms, since they have different parts analogous in functions to the organs of higher plants and animals.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Organism

Spanish: organismo,

German: der Organismus,

Japanese: 生物

More Translations »

organism

1664, "organic structure, organization," from organize (q.v.). Sense of "living animal or plant" first recorded 1842.

Main Entry: or·gan·ism
Pronunciation: 'or-g&-"niz-&m
Function: noun
: an individual constituted to carry on the activities of life bymeans of organs separate in function but mutually dependent : a living being —or·gan·is·mic /"or-g&-'niz-mik/ also or·gan·is·mal /-m&l/ adjective —or·gan·is·mi·cal·ly /-mi-k(&-)lE/ adverb

organism or·gan·ism (ôr'gə-nĭz'əm)
n.
An individual form of life, such as a plant, an animal, a bacterium, a protist, or a fungus; a body made up of organs, organelles, or other parts that work together to carry on the various processes of life.

or'gan·is'mal (-nĭz'məl) or or'gan·is'mic (-mĭk) adj.

organism (ôr'gə-nĭz'əm) Pronunciation Key
An individual form of life that is capable of growing, metabolizing nutrients, and usually reproducing. Organisms can be unicellular or multicellular. They are scientifically divided into five different groups (called kingdoms) that include prokaryotes, protists, fungi, plants, and animals, and that are further subdivided based on common ancestry and homology of anatomic and molecular structures.

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