mutant
Americanadjective
noun
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of mutant
1900–05; < Latin mūtant- (stem of mūtāns ), present participle of mūtāre to change; see -ant
Compare meaning
How does mutant compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
When an animal's genes change, or mutate, the new form of the animal that results is a mutant. One example of such a mutant is a blue lobster. Another is the teenage mutant ninja turtle. You can use the scientific term mutant for any plant or animal that's the result of a change, or mutation, in the DNA of that organism. When the word is used as an adjective, it describes something having to do with this kind of mutation, like a mutant chromosome or a mutant lobster. Mutant stems from the Latin mutantem, which means "changing."
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.
See Examples For:
At the same time, Severance Hospital is working on technologies to detect and control early mutant cells through the Korea-US Innovative Result Creation R&D project.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 28, 2026
More recently, he appeared in “Fallout” just long enough for his character to be mauled to death by a mutant bear.
From Salon ● Jan. 15, 2026
It has produced two Doctor Whos, a Marvel mutant, Game of Thrones stars, UK stage royalty, several Hollywood A-listers and a Traitors icon.
From BBC ● Jan. 2, 2026
Within minutes, the woman goes into labor, giving birth to a mutant baby with wings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2025
Those facts of reproductive biology vexed early farmers, because, as soon as they had located a productive mutant plant, its offspring would cross-breed with other plant individuals and thereby lose their inherited advantage.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Bosses waited to unleash their mutants, but now the shackles are off as the latest teaser confirms they're entering the MCU.
From BBC ● Jan. 9, 2026
The series itself has gotten so bored with the beasties that it continues to invent new ugly mutants.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2025
The surface is now home to scavengers, soldiers, mutants, and ghouls, all doing their best to survive on spoiled food, brackish water, and whatever’s left in long-abandoned vending machines.
From Salon ● May 12, 2025
He endorsed normal Senate candidates over lab-born mutants in swing-state primaries, and stopped feuding with old enemies in the name of party unity.
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2024
The peculiar feature of the mutants, he discovered, was that the essential plan of macroscopic structures was often maintained—only the segment switched its position or identity in the body of the fly.
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
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
