meiosis
Cell Biology. part of the process of gamete formation, consisting of chromosome conjugation and two cell divisions, in the course of which the diploid chromosome number becomes reduced to the haploid.: Compare mitosis.
Rhetoric.
expressive understatement, especially litotes.
Origin of meiosis
1Other words from meiosis
- mei·ot·ic [mahy-ot-ik], /maɪˈɒt ɪk/, adjective
- post·mei·ot·ic, adjective
Words Nearby meiosis
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use meiosis in a sentence
Precursor cells must go through a special type of cell division called meiosis in order to halve their chromosomes.
Inside the race to make human sex cells in the lab | Jessica Hamzelou | August 23, 2022 | MIT Technology ReviewIn Malone’s lab, she fell in love with meiosis, the process by which organisms divvy up genetic information to pass on to future generations.
This year’s SN 10 scientists aim to solve some of science’s biggest challenges | Science News Staff | September 30, 2020 | Science NewsGametogenesis, fertilization, and one-division meiosis in Oxymonas.
The Biotic Associations of Cockroaches | Louis M. Rothmeiosis in Barbulanympha following fertilization, autogamy, and endomitosis.
The Biotic Associations of Cockroaches | Louis M. RothGametogenesis, fertilization, and one-division meiosis in Saccinobaculus.
The Biotic Associations of Cockroaches | Louis M. Roth
Haploid (n) chromosome numbers were determined from cells in diakinesis, metaphase I, and metaphase II of meiosis.
Neotropical Hylid Frogs, Genus Smilisca | William E. DuellmanOne-division meiosis and autogamy without cell division in Urinympha.
The Biotic Associations of Cockroaches | Louis M. Roth
British Dictionary definitions for meiosis
/ (maɪˈəʊsɪs) /
a type of cell division in which a nucleus divides into four daughter nuclei, each containing half the chromosome number of the parent nucleus: occurs in all sexually reproducing organisms in which haploid gametes or spores are produced: Compare mitosis See also prophase (def. 2)
rhetoric another word for litotes
Origin of meiosis
1Derived forms of meiosis
- meiotic (maɪˈɒtɪk), adjective
- meiotically, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for meiosis
[ mī-ō′sĭs ]
The process in cell division in sexually reproducing organisms that reduces the number of chromosomes from diploid to haploid (half the original number). Meiosis involves two consecutive divisions of the nucleus and leads to the production of reproductive cells (gametes) in animals and to the formation of spores in plants, fungi, and most algae (the haploid spores grow into organisms that produce gametes by mitosis). Meiosis begins when the chromosomes, which have already duplicated, condense along the center of the nucleus, and pairs of homologous chromosomes undergo crossing over, whereby some of their genetic material is exchanged. The pairs of chromosomes then separate and move to opposite ends of the cell, and the cell itself divides into two cells. In the second stage, each of these two cells also divides into two cells. Meiosis thus produces four cells, each of which contain half the number of chromosomes as the original cell. Some or all of the four cells may become functional gametes or spores. Compare mitosis.
a closer look
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for meiosis
[ (meye-oh-sis) ]
Division of cells in which four “daughter” cells are produced from one “parent” cell, each with half the genes of the parent. Meiosis is a key process in sexual reproduction. In the ovaries and testes, meiosis produces a great variety of sex cells (sperm and ova), because the genes of the parent cell can be split in many different ways. The sex cells combine in fertilization to produce a new individual with the full number of genes — half from each parent. Because the sex cells come in such variety, and come from two parents, there is an enormous number of possible forms for the offspring. (See chromosomes, genetics, and mitosis.)
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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