homunculus
Americannoun
plural
homunculi-
an artificially made dwarf, supposedly produced in a flask by an alchemist.
-
a fully formed, miniature human body believed, according to some medical theories of the 16th and 17th centuries, to be contained in the spermatozoon.
-
a diminutive human being.
-
the human fetus.
noun
-
a miniature man; midget
-
(in early biological theory) a fully-formed miniature human being existing in a spermatozoon or egg
Other Word Forms
- homuncular adjective
Etymology
Origin of homunculus
1650–60; < Latin, equivalent to homun- (variant of homin-, stem of homō man; Homo ) + -culus -cule 1
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.
In my first neuroscience course at Columbia University, I learned about the homunculus.
From Scientific American • Apr. 21, 2023
If that were the case, it implied that maybe, just maybe, the classic “little man” figure of the homunculus needed to be redrawn.
From Scientific American • Apr. 21, 2023
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
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
From his pocket he took a clay homunculus figure, three inches tall, the last of those he’d made on Cairnholm.
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
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.
