flagelliform

[fluh-jel-uh-fawrm]

adjective

Biology.

1. long, slender, and flexible, like the lash of a whip.

flagelliform

/ fləˈdʒɛlɪˌfɔːm /

adjective

1. slender, tapering, and whiplike, as the antennae of certain insects

Word History and Origins

Origin of flagelliform¹

1820–30; < Latin flagell ( um ) a whip, scourge + -i- + -form

Example Sentences

Early in her career, she had cloned the Flag gene, which codes for flagelliform silk, the elastic filament that orb weavers use in the insect-capturing spirals of their webs.

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Opisthosoma consisting of only ten somites, which have no tergal and sternal elements, the prae-genital somite contracted to form a “waist,” as in the Pedipalpi; the last three narrowed to form a caudal support for the many-jointed flagelliform telson, as in the Urotricha.

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Flagelliform: whip-like; applied to a process.

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