double helix

American  

noun

Biochemistry, Genetics.

1. the spiral arrangement of the two complementary strands of DNA.

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double helix British  

noun

1. biochem the form of the molecular structure of DNA, consisting of two helical polynucleotide chains linked by hydrogen bonds and coiled around the same axis

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double helix Scientific  

1. The three-dimensional structure of double-stranded DNA, in which polymeric nucleotide strands whose complementary nitrogen bases are linked by hydrogen bonds form a helical configuration. The two DNA strands are oriented in opposite directions.

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double helix Cultural  

1. The shape taken by the DNA molecule. A helix is a three-dimensional spiral, like the shape of a spring or the railing on a spiral staircase. A DNA molecule consists of two helixes intertwined.

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Etymology

Origin of double helix

First recorded in 1953; term introduced by J.D. Watson and F.H.C. Crick

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

double helix

We transformed the Supreme Court’s “Nothing to see here” into an avowal of the freedom to marry under the Constitution’s double helix of liberty and equality for all.

From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026

Each double helix contains vast arrays of chemical subunits that function like the zeroes and ones in a computer program.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026

You can look at friendship as a journey that is like a double helix: Sometimes you and a friend will be in sync financially or emotionally, and other times you’ll be out of alignment.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 28, 2026

More than seven decades later, mathematician Robert Monjo believes he has discovered a similarly significant double helix — but this time not as the structure of human DNA, but as the structure of spacetime itself.

From Salon ● Nov. 13, 2024

Each strand is used to generate a complementary version of itself, resulting in one double helix that splits into two double helices.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee