anatomy

American  

[uh-nat-uh-mee] / əˈnæt ə mi /

noun

plural

anatomies

1. the science dealing with the structure of animals and plants.

2. the structure of an animal or plant, or of any of its parts.

3. dissection of all or part of an animal or plant in order to study its structure.

4. a plant or animal that has been or will be dissected, or a model of such a dissected organism.

5. a skeleton.

6. Informal. the human body.

7. an analysis or minute examination.

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anatomy British  

/ əˈnætəmɪ /

noun

1. the science concerned with the physical structure of animals and plants

2. the physical structure of an animal or plant or any of its parts

3. a book or treatise on this subject

4. dissection of an animal or plant

5. any detailed analysis

   the anatomy of a crime

6. informal the human body

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anatomy Scientific  

/ ə-năt′ə-mē /

1. The structure of an organism or any of its parts.

2. The scientific study of the shape and structure of organisms and their parts.

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anatomy Cultural  

1. The structure of an animal or plant; also, the study of this structure through techniques such as microscopic observation and dissection. (Compare morphology and physiology.)

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Etymology

Origin of anatomy

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin anatomia, from Greek anatom(ḗ) “dissection” (from ana- ana- + tomḗ “a cutting,” noun derivative of témnein “to cut”) + -ia -y ³

Example Sentences

Every part of him was by design, with the scars on his body reflecting incisions that those studying human anatomy in the 18th century would have made.

From Los Angeles Times

Wang also notes its potential for brain research, where scientists could study brain anatomy while simultaneously observing blood flow dynamics.

From Science Daily

“Combining the melanoma cells with healthy rat skin cells to see if we can replicate the kind of alteration in the subject’s anatomy.”

From Literature

"Now, with our advances in computational biomechanics, we can start to say smart things about what the anatomy means for how this animal could hear."

From Science Daily

By combining fossil evidence with data on anatomy, geography, and ecology, the study sheds new light on a long-standing evolutionary question.

From Science Daily