archaeon
Americannoun
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Any of a group of microorganisms that resemble bacteria but are different from them in their genetic makeup and certain aspects of their cell structure, such as the composition of their cell walls. Archaea usually live in extreme, often very hot or salty environments, such as hot mineral springs or deep-sea hydrothermal vents, but some are also found in animal digestive systems. The archaea are considered a separate domain in some classifications, but a division of the prokaryotes (Monera) in others. Some scientists believe that archaea were the earliest forms of cellular life.
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Also called archaebacterium
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The prevailing model holds that eukaryotes arose when an Asgard archaeon formed a symbiotic relationship with an alphaproteobacterium.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 20, 2026
In every place, copies of the Borg co-occurred with DNA linked to a methane-oxidizing archaeon called Methanoperedens.
From Science Magazine ● Jul. 15, 2021
He is part of a team that spent a decade trying to determine the physical shape of a particular protein in a tiny bacteria-like organism called an archaeon.
From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2020
The archaeon — ‘Candidatus Prometheoarchaeum syntrophicum’ — offers tantalising hints as to how an ancient single cell might have engulfed another to create more advanced eukaryotes.
From Nature ● Jan. 15, 2020
Or perhaps it will be an archaeon with signs of a symbiotic bacterium living within.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 30, 2015
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.
