metazoan

American  

[met-uh-zoh-uhn] / ˌmɛt əˈzoʊ ən /

noun

plural

metazoans

1. Zoology. any animal of the group Metazoa.

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adjective

1. Zoology. of, relating to, or characteristic of an animal or animals of the group Metazoa.

metazoan British  

/ ˌmɛtəˈzəʊən /

noun

1. any multicellular animal of the group Metazoa : includes all animals except sponges

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or belonging to the Metazoa

metazoan Scientific  

/ mĕt′ə-zō′ən /

1. Any of the animals belonging to the subkingdom Metazoa, having a body made up of differentiated cells arranged in tissues and organs. All multicellular animals besides sponges are metazoans.

2. A multicellular animal. No longer in scientific use.

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Other Word Forms

• non-metazoan noun
• premetazoan noun

Etymology

Origin of metazoan

C19: from New Latin Metazoa; see _meta- , _-zoa

Example Sentences

Bars indicate the presence or relative expansions of selected gene families in all basal metazoan lineages from the inferred urmetazoan ancestor.

From Nature • May 20, 2014

Bars indicate the presence or relative expansions of selected gene families in all basal metazoan lineages from the inferred urmetazoan ancestor.

From Nature • May 20, 2014

Our analysis reveals a transcriptome of high complexity that is expressed in discrete, tissue- and condition-specific messenger RNA and lncRNA transcript isoforms that span most of the genome and provides valuable insights into metazoan biology.

From Nature • Mar. 15, 2014

These studies demonstrated that large fractions of metazoan genomes are transcribed, and they also catalogued individual elements of transcriptomes, including transcription start sites3, polyadenylation sites4, 5, exons and introns6.

From Nature • Mar. 15, 2014

"The existence of immortal metazoan organisms is conceivable," but their capacity for existence is influenced by conditions of the external world; this renders necessary the process of adaptation.

From The Birth-Time of the World and Other Scientific Essays by Joly, John