chloroplast

[ klawr-uh-plast, klohr- ]

/ ˈklɔr əˌplæst, ˈkloʊr- /

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noun Botany.

a plastid containing chlorophyll.

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Origin of chloroplast

First recorded in 1885–90; chloro(phyll) + -plast

OTHER WORDS FROM chloroplast

chlo·ro·plas·tic, adjective

Words nearby chloroplast

chlorophyllase, chlorophyllous, chlorophyte, chlorophytum, chloropicrin, chloroplast, chloroplatinic, chloroplatinic acid, chloroprene, chloroquine, chlorosis

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use chloroplast in a sentence

In that case, these outer cells should be equipped with green chloroplasts, the organs used for photosynthesis—after all, this is where the most sunlight falls.
Plants Feel Pain and Might Even See - Issue 104: Harmony|Peter Wohlleben|July 21, 2021|Nautilus
These animals can take the green sunlight-trapping energy factories called chloroplasts from algae.
A sea slug’s head can crawl around and grow a whole new body|Susan Milius|April 30, 2021|Science News For Students
The plants seemed to have simply ditched their entire chloroplast genome.
DNA of Giant ‘Corpse Flower’ Parasite Surprises Biologists|Christie Wilcox|April 21, 2021|Quanta Magazine
The grazing slugs can keep the chloroplasts alive for weeks or months.
A sea slug’s detached head can crawl around and grow a whole new body|Susan Milius|March 8, 2021|Science News

What might help Elysia slugs manage such extreme regrowth is their ability to steal the tiny green sunlight-trapping energy factories called chloroplasts from plants, the researchers muse.
A sea slug’s detached head can crawl around and grow a whole new body|Susan Milius|March 8, 2021|Science News
In each assimilating cell there is usually a single large chloroplast.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3|Various
The large chloroplast in each half is composed of six longitudinal plates, united at the axis of the cell.
Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany|Douglas Houghton Campbell

British Dictionary definitions for chloroplast

chloroplast

/ (ˈklɔːrəʊˌplæst) /

noun

a plastid containing chlorophyll and other pigments, occurring in plants and algae that carry out photosynthesis

Derived forms of chloroplast

chloroplastic, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for chloroplast

chloroplast

[ klôr′ə-plăst′ ]

A plastid in the cells of green plants and green algae that contains chlorophylls and carotenoid pigments and creates glucose through photosynthesis. In plants, chloroplasts are usually disk-shaped and can reorient themselves in the cell to vary their exposure to sunlight. Chloroplasts contain the saclike membranes known as thylakoids, which contain the chlorophyll and are arranged in stacklike structures known as grana. Besides conducting photosynthesis, plant chloroplasts store starch and are involved in amino acid synthesis. Like mitochondria, chloroplasts have their own DNA that is different from the DNA in the nucleus, and chloroplasts are therefore believed to have evolved from symbiont bacteria, their DNA being a remnant of their past existence as independent organisms. See more at cell photosynthesis.

Cultural definitions for chloroplast

chloroplast

A chlorophyll-containing organelle found in algal and green plant cells.