biologist
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of biologist
Explanation
A biologist is a scientist who focuses on living organisms, including plants and animals. Wildlife biologists might specialize in studying African elephants. Biologists study a wide variety of life forms, from single-celled organisms to primates, and conduct research in many different areas, from the spreading of pathogens to the details of evolution. A marine biologist studies sea creatures and a microbiologist might study algae or bacteria. The word biologist is rooted in the Greek bios, or "life."
Vocabulary lists containing biologist
"Siberian Survivors" and "Tigers in the Wild"
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Roots: bio
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Unit 18, Lesson 3
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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.
See Examples For:
What’s more depressing is that a research biologist interviewed by KING-TV, Seattle’s NBC affiliate, stated that the beached whales people have encountered likely represent only a quarter to a fifth of the total death toll.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
At Roche’s Genentech, computational biologist Aviv Regev has built what she calls a “lab in the loop.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Victor Diaz, a 24-year-old biologist, looked grave as he described the need for escapism.
From Barron's ● Jun. 14, 2026
What began as an act of solidarity ultimately took a bitter turn for a National Park Service biologist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2026
On the wall behind his half-ton desk hangs the only image: a charcoal portrait of the French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
As they do yearly, Marine biologists and wildlife officials urge fans to respect Neil’s privacy and let him molt: The more peace he gets, the more we can look forward to his next visit.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
Using such data, biologists have determined that kinkajous—a Panamanian tree-dwelling honey bear that resembles the lemur—take the same route every day from their home trees to their food sources, down to the exact same branches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
For decades, many evolutionary biologists have viewed much of molecular evolution as surprisingly quiet.
From Science Daily ● May 29, 2026
The announcement resembled Colossal’s rollout of the “dire wolf” pups: Publications that had received guided tours of its lab produced breathless articles taking Colossal’s claims at face value, generally lacking skeptical commentary by unaffiliated biologists.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
The biologists therefore had no trouble finding areas for their study.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
