recessive

recessive (rɪˈsɛsɪv)

—*adj*
1.	tending to recede or go back; receding
2.	genetics
	a. (of a gene) capable of producing its characteristic phenotype in the organism only when its allele is identical
	b. Compare dominant (of a character) controlled by such a gene
3.	linguistics (of stress) tending to be placed on or near the initial syllable of a polysyllabic word

—n
4.	genetics
	a. a recessive gene or character
	b. an organism having such a gene or character

re'cessively

—*adv*

re'cessiveness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

recessive re·ces·sive (rĭ-sěs'ĭv)
adj.

Tending to go backward or recede.
Of, relating to, or being an allele that does not produce a characteristic effect when present with a dominant allele.
O, or being a trait expressed only when the determining allele is present in the homozygous condition.

A recessive allele or trait.
An organism having a recessive trait.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

recessive

(rĭ-sěs'ĭv) Pronunciation Key
Relating to the form of a gene that is not expressed as a trait in an individual unless two such genes are inherited, one from each parent. In an organism having two different genes for a trait, the recessive form is overpowered by its counterpart, or dominant, form located on the other of a pair of chromosomes. In humans, lack of dimples is a recessive trait, while the presence of dimples is dominant. See more at carrier , inheritance. Compare dominant.

Example sentences

Both are caused by enzyme deficiencies arising from the inheritance from both

parents of a recessive gene.

Closed stud-books result in the exposure of harmful recessive genes.

These tests would be marker specific, not making difference between recessive

and expressed traits.

It may be inherited as an autosomal dominant or autosomal recessive trait.

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Related Words

carrier dominant inbreeding

inbreeding testcross

Matching Quote

"Language is simply alive, like an organism. We all tell each other this, in fact, when we speak of living languages, and I think we mean something more than an abstract metaphor. We mean alive. Words are the cells of language, moving the great body, on legs. Language grows and evolves, leaving fossils behind. The individual words are like different species of animals. Mutations occur. Words fuse, and then mate. Hybrid words and wild varieties or compound words are the progeny. Some mixed words are dominated by one parent while the other is recessive. The way a word is used this year is its phenotype, but it has deeply immutable meanings, often hidden, which is its genotype.... The separate languages of the Indo-European family were at one time, perhaps five thousand years ago, maybe much longer, a single language. The separation of the speakers by migrations had effects on language comparable to the speciation observed by Darwin on various islands of the Galapagos. Languages became different species, retaining enough resemblance to an original ancestor so that the family resemblance can still be seen."

-Lewis Thomas