agglutination

American  

[uh-gloot-n-ey-shuhn] / əˌglut nˈeɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of uniting by glue or other tenacious substance.

2. the state of being thus united; adhesion of parts.

3. that which is united; a mass or group cemented together.

4. Immunology. the clumping of bacteria, red blood cells, or other cells, due to the introduction of an antibody.

5. Linguistics. a process of word formation in which morphemes, each having one relatively constant shape, are combined without fusion or morphophonemic change, and in which each grammatical category is typically represented by a single morpheme in the resulting word, especially such a process involving the addition of one or more affixes to a base, as in Turkish, in which ev means “house,” ev-den means “from a house,” and ev-ler-den means “from houses.”

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agglutination British  

/ əˌɡluːtɪˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of agglutinating

2. the condition of being agglutinated; adhesion

3. a united mass or group of parts

4. chem the formation of clumps of particles in a suspension

5. biochem proteinaceous particles, such as blood cells and bacteria, that form clumps in antibody–antigen reactions

6. immunol the formation of a mass of particles, such as erythrocytes, by the action of antibodies

7. linguistics the building up of words from component morphemes in such a way that these undergo little or no change of form or meaning in the process of combination

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agglutination Scientific  

/ ə-glo̅o̅t′n-ā′shən /

1. The clumping together of biologic material, such as red blood cells or bacteria, that is suspended in liquid, usually in response to a particular antibody.

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Other Word Forms

• antiagglutination adjective
• interagglutination noun

Etymology

Origin of agglutination

First recorded in 1535–45; agglutinate + -ion

Example Sentences

By 1989, The Times reported, Davis had “reshaped Gulf & Western from a ragtag agglutination of about 100 businesses to a thriving corporation focused in entertainment, publishing and finance.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2023

If she subsequently becomes pregnant with a second Rh+ fetus and is not treated preventively with RhoGAM, the fetus will be at risk for an antigen-antibody reaction, including agglutination and hemolysis.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013

The bacteria became clumped in a process called agglutination.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013

Such training does not teach students to think scientifically for "the collection of credits in courses of oddments" can be gained by "agglutination of the tail to a wooden bench."

From Time Magazine Archive

They felt that their community was not a mere agglutination but a creation, having upon it the living touch of the infinite Person.

From Creative Unity by Tagore, Rabindranath