genetic
1 Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- genetically adverb
- hypergenetic adjective
- hypergenetical adjective
- hypergenetically adverb
- hypergeneticalness noun
- nongenetic adjective
- nongenetical adjective
- nongenetically adverb
Etymology
Origin of genetic
Explanation
Anything genetic has to do with your genes and DNA. You inherited your mom's eye color because it's genetic. Genetic traits run in families: biological families, anyway. Anything genetic is related to your DNA, the material you inherited from your biological parents. Hair color, eye color, and other physical traits are genetic, and so are some diseases. Scientists do genetic research to see how knowing what’s in your genes could help keep you well. If you're healthy, one reason is good genetics.
Vocabulary lists containing genetic
Genetics - Inheritance and Variation of Traits
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "G"
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Life Science: Genetics and Evolution
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The gut microbiome is incredibly complex, containing thousands of bacterial species and even more genetic variation.
From Science Daily • Apr. 22, 2026
The charity said future plans included genetic analysis to trace the spider's origins and surveys of nearby heathlands in Sherwood Forest to find potential new sites.
From BBC • Apr. 22, 2026
Detailed genetic testing and close examination of physical traits showed otherwise.
From Science Daily • Apr. 22, 2026
Scientists there analyze it to identify genetic mutations unique to that patient’s cancer, encode them into an mRNA vaccine and return the vaccine to New York in about nine weeks.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026
The geneticist Barbara McClintock discovered genetic elements that can move around within the genome—so-called jumping genes; she would win the Nobel Prize in 1983.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.