organism
Use Organism in a sentence
gəˌnɪz 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To organism
00:10
Organism
is always a great word to know.
So is nerve cell. Does it mean:
| specialized, impulse-conducting cell that is the functional unit of the nervous system |
| hormone secreted by the pancreas acts in opposition to insulin to regulate blood glucose levels |
Collins
World English Dictionary
organism (ˈɔːɡəˌnɪzəm) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | any living biological entity, such as an animal, plant, fungus, or bacterium |
| 2. | anything resembling a living creature in structure, behaviour, etc |
| organ'ismal | |
| —adj | |
| organ'ismic | |
| —adj | |
| organ'ismally | |
| —adv | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
organism
1664, "organic structure, organization," from organize (q.v.). Sense of "living animal or plant" first recorded 1842.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary
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.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
| 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. |
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Example sentences
The organism may be sicker, he observes, but it is living longer.
When scientists trace the origins of an organism, they compare it to other living things.
Information is simply a way of arranging descriptors of the physical world in a manner that the living organism can use.
To exist, a cancer needs a living organism, but it cannot ever become a living organism.
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