drosophila

[ droh-sof-uh-luh, druh- ]

/ droʊˈsɒf ə lə, drə- /

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noun, plural dro·soph·i·las, dro·soph·i·lae

[droh-sof-uh-lee, druh-]. /droʊˈsɒf əˌli, drə-/.

a fly of the genus Drosophila, especially D. melanogaster, used in laboratory studies of genetics and development.

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Origin of drosophila

<New Latin <Greek dróso(s) dew + New Latin -phila<Greek -philē, feminine of -philos-phile

Words nearby drosophila

drop zone, drosera, droshky, drosky, drosometer, drosophila, dross, drossy, Droste-Hülshoff, drought, droughty

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

How to use drosophila in a sentence

Everyone has a mosquito story they want to tell her—not like when she was studying drosophila, the fruit fly.
Mosquitoes Love Some People More and Science Wants to Know Why|Josh Dzieza|August 6, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Morgan and his pupils have observed over 130 mutations in a fly Drosophila.
The Organism as a Whole|Jacques Loeb
The most extensive and conclusive experiments along this line are those by Morgan on the fruit fly Drosophila.
The Organism as a Whole|Jacques Loeb
The normal red-eyed Drosophila has one kind of eggs, each possessing one X chromosome.
The Organism as a Whole|Jacques Loeb

Such a case is that recently described by Morgan in America for the pomace fly (Drosophila ampelophila).
Mendelism|Reginald Crundall Punnett
Again, a mutant stock in the fruit fly (Drosophila) has as its most marked characteristic very short wings.
Applied Eugenics|Paul Popenoe and Roswell Hill Johnson

British Dictionary definitions for drosophila

drosophila

/ (drɒˈsɒfɪlə) /

noun plural -las or -lae (-ˌliː)

any small dipterous fly of the genus Drosophila, esp D. melanogaster, a species widely used in laboratory genetics studies: family Drosophilidae. They feed on plant sap, decaying fruit, etcAlso called: fruit fly, vinegar fly

Word Origin for drosophila

C19: New Latin, from Greek drosos dew, water + -phila; see -phile

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 drosophila

drosophila

[ drō-sŏf′ə-lə ]

Any of various small fruit flies of the genus Drosophila, one species of which (D. melanogaster) is used extensively in genetic research to study patterns of inheritance and the functions of genes.