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View synonyms for vesicle

vesicle

[ ves-i-kuhl ]

noun

  1. a small sac or cyst.
  2. Biology. a small bladderlike cavity, especially one filled with fluid.
  3. Pathology. a circumscribed elevation of the epidermis containing serous fluid; blister.
  4. Geology. a small, usually spherical cavity in a rock or mineral, formed by expansion of a gas or vapor before the enclosing body solidified.


vesicle

/ vɛˈsɪkjʊlə; ˈvɛsɪkəl /

noun

  1. pathol
    1. any small sac or cavity, esp one containing serous fluid
    2. a blister
  2. geology a rounded cavity within a rock formed during solidification by expansion of the gases present in the magma
  3. botany a small bladder-like cavity occurring in certain seaweeds and aquatic plants
  4. any small cavity or cell


vesicle

/ vĕsĭ-kəl /

  1. A small fluid-filled sac in the body.
  2. A membrane-bound sac in eukaryotic cells that stores or transports the products of metabolism in the cell and is sometimes the site for the breaking down of metabolic wastes. Vesicles bulge out and break off from the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus. Vesicles get their energy for mobility from ATP. Lysosomes and peroxisomes are vesicles.
  3. A small cavity formed in volcanic rock by entrapment of a gas bubble during solidification.


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Derived Forms

  • veˈsicularly, adverb
  • vesicular, adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of vesicle1

First recorded in 1570–80, vesicle is from the Latin word vēsīcula little bladder. See vesica, -ule

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Word History and Origins

Origin of vesicle1

C16: from Latin vēsīcula, diminutive of vesica

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Example Sentences

They’ve done this by creating gas vesicles that, when you ping them with ultrasound, audibly pop—just like those in microbes going for a dive.

What makes gas vesicles especially exciting is that, when you ping them with sound waves—in particular, ultrasound, which is too high-pitched for human ears to hear—they ring back with a signal.

For several years now, Shapiro’s group has been inserting the DNA for gas vesicles into cells and fine-tuning them.

When you’re ready to return to the depths, just pop a few gas vesicles like balloons, and you’ll sink back down.

Thanks to that ability, the gene responsible for allowing microbes to create gas vesicles is what researchers call a reporter gene.

Now, this vesicle is invariably tinged with a different hue from the rest of the being.

Do we not witness in the newly formed vaccine vesicle, an increase of the specific force and principle?

The interest in the terminal vesicle lies in the possibility of its being some rudimentary structure.

It begins to do so close to the terminal vesicle, which, however, still remains as or more conspicuous than it was before.

The result of segmentation is a vesicle whose wall is formed of a single layer of cells.

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vesicatoryvesicular