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chordate
[ kawr-deyt ]
/ ˈkɔr deɪt /
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This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
adjective
belonging or pertaining to the phylum Chordata, comprising animals having a notochord, as the lancelets and tunicates, as well as all the true vertebrates, including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
noun
a chordate animal.
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Origin of chordate
First recorded in 1885–90; see origin at Chordata
Words nearby chordate
choral speaking, chord, chordal, chordamesoderm, Chordata, chordate, chorda tendinea, chordates, chord chart, chordee, chording
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use chordate in a sentence
The category of chordates includes wild mammals, wild birds, livestock, humans, and fish.
The experiment revealed traces of bacteria, plants, arthropods, nematodes, fungi, and chordates, showing that under the right conditions, middens may be storehouses of information from across the tree of life.
What’s in a packrat’s petrified pee? Just a few thousand years of secrets.|Rachel Feltman|August 12, 2021|Popular-ScienceIt is in many respects the simplest in structure among Chordate animals.
A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 1 (of 2)|David Starr Jordan
British Dictionary definitions for chordate
chordate
/ (ˈkɔːˌdeɪt) /
noun
any animal of the phylum Chordata, including the vertebrates and protochordates, characterized by a notochord, dorsal tubular nerve cord, and pharyngeal gill slits
adjective
of, relating to, or belonging to the Chordata
Word Origin for chordate
C19: from Medieval Latin chordata; see chord 1 + -ate 1
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 chordate
chordate
[ kôr′dāt′ ]
Any of a large group of animals of the phylum Chordata, having at some stage of development a notochord (flexible spinal column) and nerve cord running along the back, a tail stretching above and behind the anus, and gill slits. Chordates probably evolved before the Cambrian Period and are related to the hemichordates, echinoderms, and chaetognaths. The vertebrates, tunicates, and cephalochordates are the three main groups of chordates.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
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