cilia
Americanplural noun
-
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.
-
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:
And hundreds of centrioles, intended for eventual construction of cilia at the cell surface, got stuck in the cell body.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 6, 2024
In the lungs, their cilia sway back and forth to keep fluids like mucus from collecting.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 6, 2024
"We can change the direction of the material's magnetization at room temperature, which in turn allows us to completely change how the cilia flex. It's like getting a swimmer to change their stroke."
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024
Controlling the magnetic polarization -- or magnetization -- allows you to essentially dictate precisely how the cilia will flex when an external magnetic field is applied.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024
The centrioles, which hoist the microtubules on which chromosomes are strung for mitosis, are similar separate creatures; when not busy with mitosis, they become the basal bodies to which cilia are attached.
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
The reason for this daytime-induced enhanced healing process appears to be from the relationship the 24-hour cycle has on the length of the primary cilium.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 21, 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
D. A motile rodlet with one cilium and with a spore formed inside.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 "Baconthorpe" to "Bankruptcy" by Various
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.
