chromosome

[ kroh-muh-sohm ]

See synonyms for chromosome on Thesaurus.com

nounGenetics.

any of several threadlike bodies, consisting of chromatin, that carry the genes in a linear order: the human species has 23 pairs, designated 1 to 22 in order of decreasing size and X and Y for the sex-determining chromosomes.: See also X chromosome, Y chromosome.

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chromosome vs. chromatid chromatin vs. chromosome plasmid vs. chromosome

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Origin of chromosome

First recorded in 1885–90; chromo- + -some³

Other words from chromosome

chro·mo·so·mal [kroh-muh-soh-muhl], /ˌkroʊ məˈsoʊ məl/, adjective
chro·mo·so·mal·ly, adverb
in·ter·chro·mo·so·mal, adjective
in·ter·chro·mo·so·mal·ly, adverb
non·chro·mo·so·mal, adjective

Words Nearby chromosome

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

How to use chromosome in a sentence

He named chromosomes in 1888, before their exact nature was well-known.
Top 10 science anniversaries to celebrate in 2021 | Tom Siegfried | February 3, 2021 | Science News
The scientists were especially interested in their telomeres—protective DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes that act a bit like the caps on the ends of shoelaces.
Spaceflight affects the human body in two major, peculiar ways | Paola Rosa-Aquino | November 25, 2020 | Popular-Science
Kelly experienced changes in his gut microbiome, his cognitive abilities slowed down, certain genes would turn off and on, and his chromosomes experienced structural changes.
Spaceflight does some weird things to astronauts’ bodies | Neel Patel | November 25, 2020 | MIT Technology Review
In a study published last month, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tracked an important part of the memory-making process at the molecular scale in engram cells’ chromosomes.
Brain Cell DNA Refolds Itself to Aid Memory Recall | Elena Renken | November 2, 2020 | Quanta Magazine
Each of Hsal’s cells carries 25 copies of its chromosome, which fragment and reassemble after a high radiation dosage.
Preserving a Sense of Wonder in DNA - Issue 92: Frontiers | Virat Markandeya | October 28, 2020 | Nautilus

And yet they proved to have the same virus fossils in the exact same chromosome amid billions of possibilities.
Ebola's Roots Are 50 Times Older Than Mankind. And That Could Be the Key to Stopping It. | Michael Daly | October 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Carried distinctly through men, the Y chromosome only gives a portion of the entire mitochondrial DNA.
This Artist Reproduced van Gogh’s Ear…and It’s Alive! | Justin Jones | June 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
It's not delirium tremors and chromosome breakage and only a small number of users would be seriously harmed.
Weed Gave My Family Everything—Then Took It Away | Abby Haglage | April 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Once it was shown that women can have a single X chromosome (just as men can have two of them) that was abandoned as well.
Caster Semenya And The IOC’s Olympics Gender Bender | Jesse Ellison | July 26, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
What does it mean, really, if your 14-week-old fetus has a deletion on chromosome 12?
New Finding That Testing Could Identify Defects in Fetuses Is a Genetics Baby Step | Kent Sepkowitz | June 8, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
This X chromosome has also the factor for the development of red-eye pigment.
The Organism as a Whole | Jacques Loeb
The accessory chromosome has been now observed in most of the great divisions of insects, except, as it happens, Lepidoptera.
Evolution in Modern Thought | Ernst Haeckel
Montgomery afterward showed that Henkings nucleolus was an accessory chromosome.
The Organism as a Whole | Jacques Loeb
The chromosome situation in Protenor is a somewhat extreme case, inasmuch as one X chromosome is entirely lacking in the male.
The Organism as a Whole | Jacques Loeb
On the basis of the chromosome theory the following explanation could be given of this numerical relation.
The Organism as a Whole | Jacques Loeb

British Dictionary definitions for chromosome

chromosome

/ (ˈkrəʊməˌsəʊm) /

noun

any of the microscopic rod-shaped structures that appear in a cell nucleus during cell division, consisting of nucleoprotein arranged into units (genes) that are responsible for the transmission of hereditary characteristics: See also homologous chromosomes

Derived forms of chromosome

chromosomal, adjective
chromosomally, adverb

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 chromosome

chromosome

[ krō′mə-sōm′ ]

A structure in all living cells that consists of a single molecule of DNA bonded to various proteins and that carries the genes determining heredity. In all eukaryotic cells, the chromosomes occur as threadlike strands in the nucleus. During cell reproduction, these strands coil up and condense into much thicker structures that are easily viewed under a microscope. Chromosomes occur in pairs in all of the cells of eukaryotes except the reproductive cells, which have one of each chromosome, and some red blood cells (such as those of mammals) that expel their nuclei. In bacterial cells and other prokaryotes, which have no nucleus, the chromosome is a circular strand of DNA located in the cytoplasm.

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