homunculus
Americannoun
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an artificially made dwarf, supposedly produced in a flask by an alchemist.
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a fully formed, miniature human body believed, according to some medical theories of the 16th and 17th centuries, to be contained in the spermatozoon.
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a diminutive human being.
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the human fetus.
noun
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a miniature man; midget
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(in early biological theory) a fully-formed miniature human being existing in a spermatozoon or egg
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of homunculus
1650–60; < Latin, equivalent to homun- (variant of homin-, stem of homō man; see Homo) + -culus -cule 1
Explanation
A homunculus is a "little man." In the 17th century, theorists called preformationists argued that a human being begins life as a tiny, preformed person — a homunculus — encapsulated in the sperm or, as some thought, in the egg. The preformationists were arguing against Aristotle's view that humans and other organisms begin life as unformed material that gradually takes shape, and, in the case of humans, this process includes a moment of "ensoulment" — when the embryo gets a soul and becomes fully human. A homunculus can also be a "little man" of any sort. You can describe your Ken doll as a homunculus. The word is the diminutive of the Latin word homo "man."
Vocabulary lists containing homunculus
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
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The Blind Side
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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 imagery of the distorted figure of the homunculus, with outsized lips and hands, was so compelling that it took on a life of its own.
From Scientific American • Apr. 21, 2023
Motor homunculus regions were thought to only be linked to each other across the brain’s hemispheres, the left hand with the right hand, and the left foot with the right foot.
From Scientific American • Apr. 21, 2023
In my first neuroscience course at Columbia University, I learned about the homunculus.
From Scientific American • Apr. 21, 2023
As part of our quest, we became aware of contradictory findings in macaques and other nonhuman primates, which had not at the time sufficed to challenge the homunculus metaphor.
From Scientific American • Apr. 21, 2023
But this homunculus is just another picture on the screen in their heads.
From "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon
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.
