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

Either operation exposes the gland so that the surgeon can enucleate it with his fingernail or blunt scissors.

From Time Magazine Archive

It is useless to moralise on this, and the purport and significance of it may be left for private meditation to enucleate and enjoy.

From Sir Walter Scott A Lecture at the Sorbonne by Ker, William Paton

Naturally connected with the conclusion that the nuclei are the carriers of hereditary characters in the organism, is the question whether enucleate organisms can also exist.

From Darwin and Modern Science by Seward, A. C. (Albert Charles)

But with the light of the New Testament and of modern science, we ought to be able to enucleate the true spiritual idea from such descriptions.

From The Religion of Geology and Its Connected Sciences by Hitchcock, Edward

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

From A System of Logic: Ratiocinative and Inductive 7th Edition, Vol. II by Mill, John Stuart

Related Words

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