annelid

American  

[an-l-id] / ˈæn l ɪd /

Also annelidan

noun

1. any segmented worm of the phylum Annelida, including the earthworms, leeches, and various marine forms.

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adjective

1. belonging or pertaining to the Annelida.

annelid British  

/ ˈænəlɪd, əˈnɛlɪdən /

noun

1. any worms of the phylum Annelida, in which the body is divided into segments both externally and internally. The group includes the earthworms, lugworm, ragworm, and leeches

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or belonging to the Annelida

annelid Scientific  

/ ăn′ə-lĭd /

1. Any of various worms or wormlike animals of the phylum Annelida, characterized by an elongated, cylindrical body divided into ringlike segments. Most annelids have movable bristles called setae, and include earthworms, leeches, and polychetes (marine worms).

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Other Word Forms

• annelidan noun

Etymology

Origin of annelid

First recorded in 1825–35; see origin at Annelida

Example Sentences

However, marine annelid worms such as the bristleworm Platynereis dumerilii possess eyes with a camera-like design similar to those in vertebrates and cephalopods, and some species can see with surprising detail.

From Science Daily • Dec. 2, 2025

Fragmentation also occurs in annelid worms, turbellarians, and poriferans.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

Starring a bespeckled annelid, the little guy is on the crawl from a raven and Macbeth’s witches trying to use him in a potion.

From Washington Times • Apr. 21, 2021

The leeches raised there, destined for surgical use, are “freshwater, bloodsucking, multi-segmented annelid worms with ten stomachs, thirty-two brains, nine pairs of testicles, and several hundred teeth.”

From The New Yorker • Jan. 7, 2019

The excretory organs, kidneys, are composed primitively of nephridial tubes like those of the schematic worm or annelid, but immensely increased in number, modified, and improved in certain very important particulars.

From The Whence and the Whither of Man A Brief History of His Origin and Development through Conformity to Environment; Being the Morse Lectures of 1895 by Tyler, John Mason