protoplast

[ proh-tuh-plast ]
See synonyms for protoplast on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Biology.

    • the contents of a cell within the cell membrane, considered as a fundamental entity.

    • the primordial living unit or cell.

  2. a person or thing that is formed first; original; prototype.

  1. the hypothetical first individual or one of the supposed first pair of a species or the like.

Origin of protoplast

1
1525–35; <Late Latin prōtoplastus the first man, noun use of Greek prōtóplastos formed first. See proto-, -plast

Other words from protoplast

  • pro·to·plas·tic, adjective

Words Nearby protoplast

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use protoplast in a sentence

  • For this, the simplest form of the protoplast community is a single pair.

    Opuscula | Robert Gordon Latham
  • Verse cxxiv., protoplast, the original, the thing first formed.

    The Browning Cyclopdia | Edward Berdoe
  • The differentiation into nucleus and cytoplasm represents a division of labour in the protoplast.

    Darwin and Modern Science | A.C. Seward and Others
  • Or, supposing such protoplast pairs to have been numerous, what were the respective original locations of each?

    Man and His Migrations | R. G. (Robert Gordon) Latham
  • Fortunately the time was already past when protoplast patients were looked upon as something mildly freakish and to be pitied.

    Man Made | Albert R. Teichner

British Dictionary definitions for protoplast

protoplast

/ (ˈprəʊtəˌplæst) /


noun
  1. a unit consisting of the living parts of a cell, including the protoplasm and cell membrane but not the vacuoles or (in plants) the cell wall

Origin of protoplast

1
C16: from Late Latin prōtoplastus the first-formed, from Greek prōtoplastos, from proto- + plassein to shape

Derived forms of protoplast

  • protoplastic, adjective

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