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metaplasm

[ met-uh-plaz-uhm ]
/ ˈmɛt əˌplæz əm /
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noun
Cell Biology. the nonliving matter or inclusions, as starch or pigments, within a cell.
Grammar.
  1. a change in the structure of a word or sentence made by adding, removing, or transposing the sounds or words of which it is composed or the letters that represent them.
  2. the formation of oblique cases from a stem other than that of the nominative.
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Origin of metaplasm

1375–1425; late Middle English metaplasmus “grammatical change, irregularity” <Latin <Greek metaplasmós “reforming, remodeling,” derivative of metaplássein “to mold differently, remodel.” See meta-, -plasm

OTHER WORDS FROM metaplasm

met·a·plas·mic, adjective

Words nearby metaplasm

metaphysician, metaphysicize, metaphysics, metaphyte, metaplasia, metaplasm, metapolitics, Metapontum, metaprotein, metapsychology, metarchon
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use metaplasm in a sentence

  • Each metaplasm in the body favors the inactive break-up of protoplasm, and so also the formation of new metaplasms.

    The Wonders of Life|Ernst Haeckel

British Dictionary definitions for metaplasm

metaplasm
/ (ˈmɛtəˌplæzəm) /
noun
the nonliving constituents, such as starch and pigment granules, of the cytoplasm of a cell

Derived forms of metaplasm

metaplasmic, adjective
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
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