enucleation

American  

[ih-noo-klee-ey-shuhn, -nyoo-] / ɪˌnu kliˈeɪ ʃən, -ˌnyu- /

noun

1. Biology. removal or elimination of the nucleus of a cell.

   Immature oocytes were obtained from hormone-stimulated goats and matured for 22 hours before enucleation.

2. Surgery. removal of an enclosed mass or body, such as a cyst, eyeball, or tumor, while leaving it whole.

   Enucleation of the cyst, along with removal of the tooth, is the treatment of choice.

   In some cases the surgeon may have to remove the eye, a procedure called enucleation.

---

Etymology

Origin of enucleation

First recorded in 1610–20, for an earlier sense; equivalent to enucleat(e) ( def. ) + -ion ( def. )

Example Sentences

Some of the older survivors had facial abnormalities from radiation or enucleation.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2025

Ritchie: On the day we made Dolly, I would have done the enucleation, and she would have done the fusion.

From Nature • Jun. 28, 2016

Dr. Shields didn't feel enucleation was not the route to go.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 3, 2011

If it has appeared, enucleation will be of no value; at all events if there is vision in the exciting eye, the operation should not be done then.

From Mother's Remedies Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers of the United States and Canada by Ritter, Thomas Jefferson

But it may become suddenly worse, or go on to complete blindness with pain, demanding enucleation, after some temporary perturbation, as the performance of a glaucoma operation.

From Glaucoma A Symposium Presented at a Meeting of the Chicago Ophthalmological Society, November 17, 1913 by Nance, Willis O.