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flagellate

[verb flaj-uh-leyt; adjective, noun flaj-uh-lit, -leyt]
See more synonyms for flagellate on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object), flag·el·lat·ed, flag·el·lat·ing.
  1. to whip; scourge; flog; lash.
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adjective
  1. Also flag·el·lat·ed. Biology. having flagella.
  2. Botany. producing filiform runners or runnerlike branches, as the strawberry.
  3. pertaining to or caused by flagellates.
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noun
  1. 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
Related formsflag·el·la·tor, nounflag·el·la·to·ry [flaj-uh-luh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] /ˈflædʒ ə ləˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i/, adjectivemul·ti·flag·el·late, adjectivemul·ti·flag·el·lat·ed, adjectivenon·flag·el·late, adjectivenon·flag·el·lat·ed, adjectivepre·flag·el·late, adjectivepre·flag·el·lat·ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for flagellate

Historical Examples

  • Byron, Shelley, and Moore all flagellate him in their poetry.

    Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature - 4. Naturalism in England

    Georg Brandes

  • I will cut him up, sir; I will flay him—flagellate him—finish him!

  • At this stage many of the spores assume each a flagellate cilium, and so acquire power of more rapid locomotion.

    The North American Slime-Moulds

    Thomas H. (Thomas Huston) MacBride

  • These cells, called choanocytes, resemble independent animals of the Protozoa, known as flagellate Infusoria or Choanoflagellata.

    The Sea-beach at Ebb-tide

    Augusta Foote Arnold

  • Most of the flagellate infusoria do just the reverse; they are anodically sensitive or positively galvanotactic.

    The Wonders of Life

    Ernst Haeckel

British Dictionary definitions for flagellate

flagellate

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

Word Origin and History for flagellate

v.

1620s, from Latin flagellatus, past participle of flagellare "to scourge, lash" (see flagellum). Related: Flagellated; flagellating. An earlier verb for this was flagellen (mid-15c.).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
flagellate in Medicine

flagellate

(flăj′ə-lĭt, -lāt′, flə-jĕl′ĭt)
adj.
  1. Flagellated.
  2. Relating to or caused by a flagellate organism.
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n.
  1. A member of the class Mastigophora, comprising organisms having a flagellum.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
flagellate in Science

flagellate

[flăj′ə-lāt′]
  1. 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
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.