amoeba
Americannoun
noun
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The term amoeba is sometimes used to refer to something with an indefinite, changeable shape.
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Etymology
Origin of amoeba
C19: from New Latin, from Greek amoibē change, from ameibein to change, exchange
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Explanation
An amoeba is a tiny, single-celled organism. You need a powerful microscope to see an amoeba. An amoeba is distinguished by the fact that it has only one cell, and that the shape of its body is vague and irregular. An amoeba stretches and changes shape as it moves, and reproduces by splitting itself in two. The amoeba was discovered in 1757 and named almost 100 years later, from the Greek root amoibe, or "change."
Vocabulary lists containing amoeba
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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One of the best-known examples is Naegleria fowleri, sometimes called the brain eating amoeba.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 6, 2026
Its undulating form has earned its share of abuse, and it has been compared to a pancake or an amoeba.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
In fact, they immediately set themselves on the task of pleasing Carol and those like her, along with solving the riddle of their immunity, so they can absorb the stragglers into their joy amoeba.
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2025
In Kerala this year, more than 70 people have been diagnosed and 19 have died from the brain-eating amoeba.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2025
All four of them walked through the empty basement and up the stairs in a clump, almost like a single creature—an amoeba, maybe.
From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Bacteria and viruses can hide inside amoebae, where they may be shielded from disinfectants and other treatment methods.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 6, 2026
The researchers also warn that amoebae can act as living shelters for other harmful microbes.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 6, 2026
A deeper understanding of how giant viruses infect and destroy amoebae could eventually help researchers develop new approaches to preventing or treating these infections.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 19, 2026
Bacteria and viruses can survive inside amoebae, shielded from disinfection processes that would normally eliminate them.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 25, 2026
I suppose it all started when Lorraine and I and these two amoebae called Dennis Kobin and Norton Kelly were hot on those phone gags last September.
From "The Pigman" by Paul Zindel
Many are microscopic, single celled organisms, including amoebas, algae, and diatoms.
From Science Daily ● May 7, 2026
Visitors to Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada are being warned against submerging themselves in the hot springs below the Hoover Dam due to the risk of infection by deadly brain-eating amoebas.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 13, 2023
Although kelp behaves and looks like a plant, it’s a protist, the same group as single-cell amoebas.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 8, 2023
The researchers used amoebas as “virus bait,” they said, because they thought it would be a good way to search for viruses without propagating ones that could spread to animals or humans.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 2, 2022
They squirmed like amoebas under a microscope, row upon row receding into a haze of smoke.
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
