chromosome

[kroh-muh-sohm]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR chromosome ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Genetics.

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 female and male sex chromosomes respectively.

Origin of chromosome

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

Related formschro·mo·so·mal, adjectivechro·mo·so·mal·ly, adverbin·ter·chro·mo·so·mal, adjectivein·ter·chro·mo·so·mal·ly, adverbnon·chro·mo·so·mal, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for chromosome

heredity, RNA, gene

Examples from the Web for chromosome

Contemporary Examples of chromosome

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
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

Historical Examples of chromosome

The locus of miniature at 36.1 is slightly beyond the middle of the chromosome.
Sex-linked Inheritance in Drosophila
Thomas Hunt Morgan
We interpret this to mean that sable is far from yellow in the chromosome.
Sex-linked Inheritance in Drosophila
Thomas Hunt Morgan
Non-disjunction as proof of the chromosome theory of heredity.
Sex-linked Inheritance in Drosophila
Thomas Hunt Morgan
Purple is an eye-color whose gen is in the second chromosome.
Sex-linked Inheritance in Drosophila
Thomas Hunt Morgan
On the morphology of the chromosome group in Brachystola magna.
Studies in Spermatogenesis
Nettie Maria Stevens

British Dictionary definitions for chromosome

chromosome

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 characteristicsSee also homologous chromosomes

Derived Formschromosomal, adjectivechromosomally, 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

Word Origin and History for chromosome

1889, from German Chromosom, coined 1888 by German anatomist Wilhelm von Waldeyer-Hartz (1836-1921), from Latinized form of Greek khroma "color" (see chroma) + -some (3)). So called because the structures contain a substance that stains readily with basic dyes.

chromosome in Medicine

chromosome

[krō′mə-sōm′]

n.

A threadlike linear strand of DNA and associated proteins in the nucleus of animal and plant cells that carries the genes and functions in the transmission of hereditary information.

A circular strand of DNA in bacteria and cyanobacteria that contains the hereditary information necessary for cell life.

Related formschro′mo•so′mal (-sō′məl) null adj.

chromosome in Science

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.