Mendel's laws

British

/ ˈmɛndəlz /

plural noun

the principles of heredity proposed by Gregor Mendel. The Law of Segregation states that each hereditary character is determined by a pair of units in the reproductive cells: the pairs separate during meiosis so that each gamete carries only one unit of each pair. The Law of Independent Assortment states that the separation of the units of each pair is not influenced by that of any other pair

"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

Example Sentences

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Mendel's laws describe how different versions of genes, known as alleles, are passed from one generation to the next.

From Science Daily • Jun. 1, 2026

Specifically, he came up with three vital concepts that are known today as Mendel's laws of inheritance.

From Salon • Jun. 6, 2023

Explain how the outcomes of this experiment were consistent with Mendel’s laws.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

Gregor Mendel's laws of inheritance ensure that the heavy and light forms of the genes are shuffled and randomly delivered to children across a population, irrespective of their social class or any other confounding factor.

From Nature • Apr. 11, 2012

Morgan had discovered an important modification to Mendel’s laws.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023