invasive
characterized by or involving invasion; offensive: invasive war.
Medicine/Medical. requiring the entry of a needle, catheter, or other instrument into a part of the body, especially in a diagnostic procedure, as a biopsy: An x-ray is not invasive, but it may not tell us everything we need to know.
(of a plant, especially a nonnative one) posing a threat to a plant community by growing vigorously and spreading prolifically among the previously established vegetation: One of these invasive Asian grasses is making its way to the forest floors of southern Indiana.
Origin of invasive
1Other words from invasive
- un·in·va·sive, adjective
Words Nearby invasive
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use invasive in a sentence
An electro-acupuncture needle is in one view a minimally-invasive neural interface that only pierces the top of the skin.
We Need New, Safer Ways to Treat Pain. Could Electroacupuncture Be One? | Shelly Fan | August 18, 2020 | Singularity HubIn Canada, just last year, entomologists identified two different invasive hornet species.
What you need to know about ‘murder hornets’ | Susan Milius | July 20, 2020 | Science News For StudentsThose eggs may transport fish, including invasive species, to new places.
Pooping ducks can shed the live eggs of fish | Carolyn Wilke | July 17, 2020 | Science News For StudentsIn the lab, Vincze and her colleagues fed thousands of eggs from two invasive carp species to eight mallard ducks.
Fish eggs can hatch after being eaten and pooped out by ducks | Carolyn Wilke | June 29, 2020 | Science NewsThat knowledge could reveal new ways to control the invasive species.
When prey get scarce, these jellies become cannibals | Erin Garcia de Jesus | June 1, 2020 | Science News For Students
The procedure they undergo to extract eggs is intense and invasive and there are no sexual kicks involved.
Today’s Sperm Donor Isn’t a Broke 20-Something | Stephanie Fairyington | September 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut what if vasectomies were cheap, non-invasive, fully reversible, and as widespread as the female birth control pill?
Male Birth Control, Without Condoms, Will Be Here by 2017 | Samantha Allen | September 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTOnly in the high seas are there still some habitats free of invasive species.
‘Mission Blue’ Warning: The Ocean Is Not Too Big to Fail | Sylvia A. Earle | August 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTA day running errands in public can involve multiple strangers asking invasive questions about her body and her abilities.
Disabled Woman Tackles the Dating Site Trolls | Elizabeth Heideman | August 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBesides the danger to animals, these exotic animals may cause havoc as an invasive species.
She studied it till the conventional phrases took a fiery hue, and came at her with an invasive rush.
Lord Ormont and his Aminta, Complete | George MeredithThis is the Anarchistic definition of government: the subjection of the non-invasive individual to an external will.
Anarchism | Paul EltzbacherTwo obstacles, the one external, the other internal, checked its invasive progress.
American Institutions and Their Influence | Alexis de Tocqueville et al.Afterwards Lowell wrote again, owning himself wrong in his appeal, which he had come to recognize as invasive.
Literary Friends And Acquaintances | William Dean HowellsIt is enough to say that Sepia found her companion distrait, and he felt her a little invasive.
Mary Marston | George MacDonald
British Dictionary definitions for invasive
/ (ɪnˈveɪsɪv) /
of or relating to an invasion, intrusion, etc
relating to or denoting cancer at the stage at which it has spread from its site of origin to other tissues
(of surgery) involving making a relatively large incision in the body to gain access to the target of the surgery, as opposed to making a small incision or gaining access endoscopically through a natural orifice
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for invasive
[ ĭn-vā′sĭv ]
Relating to a disease or condition that has a tendency to spread, especially a malignant cancer that spreads into healthy tissue.
Relating to a medical procedure in which a part of the body is entered, as by puncture or incision.
Not native to and tending to spread widely in a habitat or environment. Invasive species often have few natural predators or other biological controls in their new environment. Although not always considered harmful to an environment, invasive species can become agricultural or ecological pests and can displace native species from their habitats. Invasive species are often introduced to an environment unintentionally, as the zebra mussel was to the Great Lakes, but are sometimes introduced for a purpose, as kudzu was to the southern US, where it was originally planted to control erosion.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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