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invertebrate
[ in-vur-tuh-brit, -breyt ]
adjective
- Zoology.
- not vertebrate; without a backbone.
- of or relating to creatures without a backbone.
- without strength of character.
noun
- an invertebrate animal.
- a person who lacks strength of character.
invertebrate
/ -ˌbreɪt; ɪnˈvɜːtɪbrɪt /
noun
- any animal lacking a backbone, including all species not classified as vertebrates
adjective
- of, relating to, or designating invertebrates
invertebrate
/ ĭn-vûr′tə-brĭt,-brāt′ /
Adjective
- Having no backbone or spinal column.
Noun
- An animal that has no backbone or spinal column and therefore does not belong to the subphylum Vertebrata of the phylum Chordata. Most animals are invertebrates. Corals, insects, worms, jellyfish, starfish, and snails are invertebrates.
Other Words From
- in·ver·te·bra·cy [in-, vur, -t, uh, -br, uh, -see], in·verte·brate·ness noun
Word History and Origins
Origin of invertebrate1
Example Sentences
Most animals, even invertebrates like shrimp and lobsters, show signs of feeling pain, which would suggest they have some degree of subjective consciousness.
More than 80 years ago, the great Chicago chemist Harold Urey discovered the temperature of skeletons in many kinds of invertebrates, including the nautilus, can be determined with mass spectrometry.
The first step was determining if the robot would be modeled after a vertebrate—an animal with a backbone—or an invertebrate, like a squid or an octopus.
The field was still reluctant to admit that true sleep existed in invertebrates, and that human sleep could be usefully studied using flies, Shaw says.
They have the largest brain to body mass ratio of known invertebrates, and have incredibly complex nervous systems.
The invertebrate fauna of the British deposits is, as might be expected, very poor until the beds of the Rhtic series are reached.
The invertebrate fauna shows an approximation to that of the present day.
This is particularly observable between the vertebrate and invertebrate animals.
Valentine began, startled out of his invertebrate placidity by a sensationalist more original than himself.
The eldest wrote from his dictation part of the sixth and seventh volumes of his work on the invertebrate animals.
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