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flagellate

[ verb flaj-uh-leyt; adjective, noun flaj-uh-lit, -leyt ]
/ verb ˈflædʒ əˌleɪt; adjective, noun ˈflædʒ ə lɪt, -ˌleɪt /
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verb (used with object), flag·el·lat·ed, flag·el·lat·ing.
to whip; scourge; flog; lash.
adjective
Also flag·el·lat·ed .Biology. having flagella.
Botany. producing filiform runners or runnerlike branches, as the strawberry.
pertaining to or caused by flagellates.
noun
any protozoan of the phylum (or class) Mastigophora, having one or more flagella.
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Origin of flagellate

1615–25; <Latin flagellātus, past participle of flagellāre to whip. See flagellum, -ate1

OTHER WORDS FROM flagellate

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

How to use flagellate in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for flagellate

flagellate

verb (ˈflædʒɪˌleɪt)
(tr) to whip; scourge; flog
adjective (ˈflædʒɪlɪt, -ˌleɪt) flagellated
possessing one or more flagella
resembling a flagellum; whiplike
noun (ˈflædʒɪlɪt, -ˌleɪt)
a flagellate organism, esp any protozoan of the phylum Zoomastigina

Derived forms of flagellate

flagellation, noun
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 flagellate

flagellate
[ flăjə-lāt′ ]

Any of various protozoans of the subphylum Mastigophora that move by means of one or more flagella. Some flagellates can make food by photosynthesis (such as euglenas and volvox), and are often classified as green algae by botanists. Others are symbiotic or parasitic (such as trypanosomes). Flagellates are related to amoebas. Also called mastigophoran
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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