metanephros

American

[met-uh-nef-ros] / ˌmɛt əˈnɛf rɒs /

noun

Embryology.

PLURAL

metanephroi

one of the three embryonic excretory organs of higher vertebrates, becoming the permanent and functional kidney.

metanephros British

/ ˌmɛtəˈnɛfrɒs /

noun

the last-formed posterior part of the embryonic kidney in reptiles, birds, and mammals, which remains functional in the adult See also pronephros mesonephros

"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

Other Word Forms

metanephric adjective

Etymology

Origin of metanephros

1875–80; < New Latin < Greek meta- meta- + nephrós kidney

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 more complete replacements, such as the nephridia of the genital segment of Tubifex by a subsequently formed genital duct, may be compared with the succession of the nesonephros to the pronephros in vertebrates, and of the metanephros to the mesonephros in the higher vertebrates.

From Project Gutenberg

Mt. and Mt.d., the metanephros and metanephric duct, become the functional kidney and ureter in both sexes.

From Project Gutenberg

Metanephros and duct, not clearly marked off from Mesonephros.

From Project Gutenberg

Mesonephros and Metanephros, the kidney, and their unseparated ducts, the ureters.

From Project Gutenberg

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