cilia
Americanplural noun
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cilium
singular
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Biology. minute hairlike organelles, identical in structure to flagella, that line the surfaces of certain cells and beat in rhythmic waves, providing locomotion to ciliate protozoans and moving liquids along internal epithelial tissue in animals.
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Anatomy. the eyelashes.
noun
Etymology
Origin of cilia
1705–15; New Latin, plural of cilium eyelash, Latin: upper eyelid, perhaps a back formation from supercilium eyebrow; see supercilium
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.
See Examples For:
By combining high speed imaging with three dimensional reconstructions of more than 1,000 cells, the researchers showed how networks of fused neurons coordinate the beating of cilia on different parts of the animal's body.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 6, 2026
Scientists at UC San Francisco have discovered that cells can also use the cell cycle to control how they sprout hair-like projections called cilia.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 6, 2024
Only a few previous magnetic cilia have made use of 'hard' magnets, which are capable of producing their own magnetic field.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024
Researchers have now demonstrated a technique for creating magnetic cilia that can be "reprogrammed," changing their magnetic properties at room temperature to change the motion of the cilia as needed.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024
Spirochetes, like the ones attached to M. paradoxa, joined up and became the cilia of eukaryotic cells.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
Scientists have long known that abnormalities in a structure on kidney cells, or the primary cilium, cause cysts to form in kidneys.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 8, 2024
Depending on its position, a cilium can be more effected by its neighbor than vice versa, especially in a dense carpet of cilia as it frequently occurs in nature.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2023
Once the voltage is reversed, the oxygen is driven out of the platinum—and the cilium returns to its original shape.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 11, 2022
He points out that Dogic's group created something that looks and acts very much like a cilium or flagellum with its multitude of proteins — but that may, in fact, work very differently.
From Nature ● Jan. 4, 2016
Each myxamœba is drawn out at one spot into a fine delicate tail or cilium, as at C, D, E, and is capable of a creeping motion in moisture.
From The Culture of Vegetables and Flowers From Seeds and Roots 16th Edition by Sutton and Sons
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.
