body plan

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noun

Biology. the basic shape of members of an animal phylum; the general structure each individual organism assumes as it develops.Compare bilateral symmetry, radial symmetry.

Naval Architecture. a diagrammatic elevation of a hull, consisting of an end view of the bow on one side of the center line and an end view of the stern on the other side, marked with water lines, diagonals, bow or buttock lines, stations, and sometimes details of the hull.

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Compare half-breadth plan, sheer plan.

Origin of body plan

First recorded in 1840–50

Words nearby body plan

body mike, body modification, Body of Christ, body packer, body piercing, body plan, body politic, body press, body rhythm, body rub, body-search

How to use body plan in a sentence

Their body plan involves one of the greatest evolutionary trade-offs of all time.
Twilight of the Nautilus - Issue 104: Harmony|Peter Ward|August 11, 2021|Nautilus
The significance of the two topological defects observed in the hydra tissue is that they define its entire body plan because they eventually become the sites of the foot and head in the new cylindrical animal.
The Math of Living Things - Issue 102: Hidden Truths|Sidney Perkowitz|June 23, 2021|Nautilus
Our own planet wasn’t always the way it is today, and a bewildering variety of body plans and biochemical strategies have already arisen and gone extinct.
A Wrinkle in Nature Could Lead to Alien Life - Issue 99: Universality|Caleb Scharf|April 21, 2021|Nautilus
That is the point at which a spherical embryo starts to form a body plan, deciding where its head will end up, and when cells begin taking on specialized missions.
Scientists plan to drop the 14-day embryo rule, a key limit on stem cell research|Antonio Regalado|March 16, 2021|MIT Technology Review

What fossils do exist — a handful of specimens dating to about 95 million years ago — suggest little change in the basic body plan from ancient to modern octopuses.
Predatory octopuses were drilling into clamshells at least 75 million years ago|Carolyn Gramling|March 2, 2021|Science News
And not just sick in the body but in your mind, because you start obsessing.
How Taryn Toomey’s ‘The Class’ Became New York’s Latest Fitness Craze|Lizzie Crocker|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In other words, the free speech exhibited by the folks at Charlie Hebdo was not virtuous—until there was a body count.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead|Luke O’Neil|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The plan is to stretch it out as long as possible, then probably forget about it, and then suddenly remember it.
‘Archer’ Creator Adam Reed Spills Season 6 Secrets, From Surreal Plotlines to Life Post-ISIS|Marlow Stern|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It jettisons jiggling ribbons of joy to every part of my body.
‘A Gronking to Remember’ Speed Read: 8 Naughtiest Bits|Emily Shire|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
My body used for his hard pleasure; a stone god gripping me in his hands.
‘A Gronking to Remember’ Speed Read: 8 Naughtiest Bits|Emily Shire|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The Duchess had also a tent for their sick men; so that we had a small town of our own here, and every body employed.
The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1801)|Daniel Defoe
The sad end of the mission to King M'Bongo has been narrated in the body of this work.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
The evening previous to his death he was walking about the farm, in the full possession of all his faculties of mind and body.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
The generall mayne body of the planters are divided into Officers, Laborers, Farmors.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
(c) Decomposition of exudates anywhere in the body, as in empyema, bronchiectasis, and large tuberculous cavities.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd