biomolecule
Americannoun
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biomolecules
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Explanation
A biomolecule is a chemical building block produced by living organisms. The carbohydrates and proteins found in food are common examples of biomolecules, which are essential for biological processes like growth and energy production. Bios is the Greek word for "life," so the clue is in the name: These molecules are the essential compounds created by living beings to sustain life. While simple elements like carbon are the raw materials, the term biomolecules refers to the complex structures that living things build from them. Hormones, which regulate bodily functions, and DNA, which carries our genetic code, are two types of biomolecules. Biomolecules are also found in food: Vitamins and proteins like gelatin are two examples.
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:
To encourage such widespread adoption, DeepMind researchers today also released AlphaFold Server, a free online platform that enables users to create AF3 models of proteins interacting with almost any other biomolecule.
From Science Magazine ● May 8, 2024
In the study, the researchers showed that oxidative dearomatisation changes the three-dimensional structure of some biomolecule components, which in turn can activate a cascade of subsequent and differentiated reactions, resulting in millions of diverse molecules.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024
They do this by sensing what's happening outside and relaying a command to the precise biomolecule in the precise domain that can carry out the necessary response.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 22, 2024
If it holds up, the model, which is now guiding laboratory experiments for confirmation, could re-establish the reputation of proteins as the original self-replicating biomolecule.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 12, 2017
Only by knowing the atom-by-atom arrangement of a biomolecule can researchers grasp how it works — how, for instance, the ribosome reads strands of messenger RNA to manufacture proteins, or how molecular pores flip open and shut.
From Nature ● Sep. 8, 2015
The author also discusses molecular cooperation and co-evolution during the earliest stages of life's emergence, as well as additional physical perspectives on the OoL, including ideas related to the chiral origin of biomolecules.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 10, 2026
When this happens, those particles become excited and often break down, which can destroy important biomolecules and disrupt larger biological systems.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 24, 2026
Intact biomolecules suggest active or recently living cells, while degraded ones indicate fossilized "geomolecules" from long ago.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 9, 2025
Extracellular, doubly charged copper ions are reduced to singly charged copper, transported into the cell, stored in pools, and transferred to the biomolecules that require them on demand.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 20, 2024
The problem is that it has so far not been possible to develop drugs that bind copper ions with sufficient affinity to "take them away" from copper-binding biomolecules.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 20, 2024
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.
