mutate
to change; alter.
Biology. to cause (a gene, cell, etc.) to undergo an alteration of one or more characteristics: The disease mutates the retina’s rod cells, and they slowly stop working.
Phonetics. to change by umlaut.
to undergo change: It was a gamble to mutate from hard rock frontman to big band crooner, but he went seriously retro and won that bet in a huge way.
Biology. (of a gene, cell, etc.) to undergo an alteration of one or more characteristics: Drug-resistant cells mutate more quickly and could migrate into surrounding tissue.
Origin of mutate
1Other words from mutate
- mu·ta·tive [myoo-tuh-tiv], /ˈmyu tə tɪv/, adjective
- non·mu·ta·tive, adjective
- un·mu·tat·ed, adjective
- un·mu·ta·tive, adjective
Words Nearby mutate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use mutate in a sentence
Yet even as airports have taken aggressive steps to keep travelers safe, they are battling a virus that continues to mutate in ways that make it more contagious and possibly more deadly, researchers said.
Airports have taken steps to reduce coronavirus transmission but risks still remain, study says | Lori Aratani | February 12, 2021 | Washington PostAs viruses move from person to person, they mutate at a predictable pace, and over a chain of transmissions, those mutations accumulate.
Can Louisiana’s COVID surge trace back to one Mardi Gras reveler? | Philip Kiefer | February 11, 2021 | Popular-ScienceNumbers one and two detected against the SARS-CoV-2 and number three detected any coronavirus, in case it mutated.
“We did the worst job in the world”: Lawrence Wright on America’s botched Covid-19 response | Sean Illing | February 9, 2021 | VoxPerhaps there hasn’t been enough time, and the coronavirus moves quickly and is now mutating, so its metaphors may change, too.
The virus caused more than a pandemic. It set us all ablaze. | Philip Kennicott | February 5, 2021 | Washington PostResearch suggests currently authorized vaccines will work against them, but there is always the frightening possibility that the virus will mutate enough that that’s no longer true.
We May Never Eliminate COVID-19. But We Can Learn to Live With It | Jamie Ducharme | February 4, 2021 | Time
He said, "Then, any survivors on earth will have to mutate into something other than mankind?"
Deepfreeze | Robert Donald Locke
British Dictionary definitions for mutate
/ (mjuːˈteɪt) /
to undergo or cause to undergo mutation
Origin of mutate
1Derived forms of mutate
- mutative (ˈmjuːtətɪv, mjuːˈteɪtɪv), 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
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