mutant
Americanadjective
noun
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
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.
Peter Nowell, a pathologist, argued in 1976 that cancers arise from a single mutant cell and then evolve, as offspring acquire new mutations and compete for dominance—a prediction that single-cell sequencing has dramatically confirmed.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026
To test whether the filaments were merely structural details or actually necessary for life, the team engineered a mutant version of PopZ that could no longer form filaments.
From Science Daily • Feb. 26, 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
In another mutant, two legs sprouted out of the antenna in a fly’s head—as if the build-a-leg command had mistakenly been launched in the head.
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.
