enucleate

American  

[ih-noo-klee-eyt, ih-nyoo-, ih-noo-klee-it, -eyt, ih-nyoo-] / ɪˈnu kliˌeɪt, ɪˈnyu-, ɪˈnu kli ɪt, -ˌeɪt, ɪˈnyu- /

verb (used with object)

enucleated, enucleating

1. Biology. to deprive of the nucleus.

2. to remove (a kernel, tumor, eyeball, etc.) from its enveloping cover.

3. Archaic. to bring out; disclose; explain.

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adjective

1. having no nucleus.

enucleate British  

verb

1. biology to remove the nucleus from (a cell)

2. surgery to remove (a tumour or other structure) from its capsule without rupturing it

3. archaic to explain or disclose

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adjective

1. (of cells) deprived of their nuclei

Other Word Forms

• enucleation noun

Etymology

Origin of enucleate

First recorded in 1540–50; from Latin ēnucleātus (past participle of ēnucleāre “to remove the pit from (fruit)”), equivalent to ē- e- ¹ + nucle(us) nucleus + -ātus -ate ¹

Example Sentences

You take that cell and fuse it to the enucleated egg, activate it — which starts it growing — and transfer it to a surrogate mother.

From Nature

The third and most difficult stage in the procedure involves the insertion of the donor-cell nucleus into the enucleated egg.

From Scientific American

Instead of enucleating them, they kept them intact and inserted the adult cell’s nucleus alongside the original one.

From Economist

Tyler's eye would then have to be enucleated.

From Seattle Times

I suspect that this error must at first have arisen from some confusion between to eliminate and to enucleate.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• clarify
• delineate
• exemplify
• explain
• explicate
• express
• illustrate
• set forth
• spell out