chemosynthesis
Americannoun
noun
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The formation of organic compounds using the energy released from chemical reactions instead of the energy of sunlight. Bacteria living in aphotic areas of the ocean are able to survive by chemosynthesis. They use energy derived from the oxidation of inorganic chemicals, such as sulfur released from deep hydrothermal vents, to produce their food.
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Compare photosynthesis
Other Word Forms
- chemosynthetic adjective
- chemosynthetically adverb
Etymology
Origin of chemosynthesis
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How does chemosynthesis compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Vocabulary lists containing chemosynthesis
Earth Science - High School
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Ecology - Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems - Middle School and High School
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Marine Biology - Middle School
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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.
These hydrothermal vents are energy-rich habitats based on chemosynthesis where microorganisms from the base of the food webs.
From Science Daily • Mar. 15, 2024
The hydrothermal organisms, and the entire ecosystem, thrived in pure darkness, converting chemicals in the vent fluid into life-sustaining compounds through a process we now call chemosynthesis.
From Scientific American • Jul. 19, 2022
But these bacteria devour sulfides to generate energy in a process known as chemosynthesis.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 23, 2022
They use the geothermal energy provided by the vents and a process called bacterial chemosynthesis to feed on sulfur compounds.
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017
Suffocating as she was in that rubble, she could have come alive in a diminished form like all other creatures of chemosynthesis.
From Tokyo to Tijuana: Gabriele Departing America by Sills, Steven (Steven David Justin)
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.
