ecdysone

American

[ek-duh-zohn, -sohn] / ˈɛk dəˌzoʊn, -ˌsoʊn /

noun

an insect hormone that stimulates metamorphosis.

ecdysone British

/ ɛkˈdaɪˌsəʊn /

noun

a hormone secreted by the prothoracic gland of insects that controls ecdysis and stimulates metamorphosis

"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

Etymology

Origin of ecdysone

First recorded in 1955–60; ecdys(is) + -one

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.

In the larval stage, that gland receives lots of nutritional information that helps it decide how to regulate ecdysone production.

From Science Daily • Nov. 27, 2023

Instead, a "stop growing" switch is triggered by the gland that makes ecdysone.

From Science Daily • Nov. 27, 2023

But once ecdysone reaches a certain level, the gland no longer needs that nutritional information to make decisions and starts regulating itself.

From Science Daily • Nov. 27, 2023

Within 20 minutes after a larva got an injection of ecdysone, its chromosomes grew puffs.

From Time Magazine Archive

Karlson dipped into his tiny supply of pure ecdysone and sent a five-milligram test sample to Ulrich Clever, a young biochemist at the Max Planck Institute in T�bingen.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023