Trivia Time

Which field chiefly studies organisms?

Test Your Knowledge

organism

American  

[awr-guh-niz-uhm] / ˈɔr gəˌnɪz əm /

noun

• organisms
  plural

1. a form of life composed of mutually interdependent parts that maintain various vital processes.

2. a form of life considered as an entity; an animal, plant, fungus, protistan, or moneran.

3. any organized body or system conceived of as analogous to a living being.

   the governmental organism.

4. any complex thing or system having properties and functions determined not only by the properties and relations of its individual parts, but by the character of the whole that they compose and by the relations of the parts to the whole.

   Synonyms:

   structure, entity, network, organization

---

organism British  

/ ˈɔːɡəˌnɪzəm /

noun

1. any living biological entity, such as an animal, plant, fungus, or bacterium

2. anything resembling a living creature in structure, behaviour, etc

---

organism Scientific  

/ ôr′gə-nĭz′əm /

1. An individual form of life that is capable of growing, metabolizing nutrients, and usually reproducing. Organisms can be unicellular or multicellular. They are scientifically divided into five different groups (called kingdoms) that include prokaryotes, protists, fungi, plants, and animals, and that are further subdivided based on common ancestry and homology of anatomic and molecular structures.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• superorganism
  noun
• organismal
  adjective
• organismic
  adjective
• organismally
  adverb
• organismically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• organisms
  plural

Etymology

Origin of organism

First recorded in 1655–65; organ + -ism

Explanation

An organism is a living thing that can function on its own. That includes your pet guppy, the tree in your backyard, and — of course — you. While the word organism typically indicates an actual living thing, you can also use organism to refer to anything that acts or functions like a living thing. For example, the social scene at a high school might be described as "a social organism" because it seems to have a mind of its own — like a living thing or even a vicious animal, depending on where one falls on the popularity scale.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

organism organisms

Although the identity of the organism that created the structures remains unknown, the fossils may represent an important stage in the evolution of one of nature's most remarkable navigational abilities.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026

To investigate that question, the researchers tested the MTB strain AMB-1 in C. elegans, a widely used model organism for aging research.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026

In Spirostomum, the myonemes form a fishnet-shaped web around the outside of the organism.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026

Scientists think this behavior may help the organism escape predators or communicate with other ciliates.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026

If the same principle applied to animals and inheritance, then what force could possibly conserve any distinguishing feature of any variant organism?

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Protists are among the most diverse and least understood groups of organisms on Earth.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026

Familiar examples include amoebas, various algae, and diatoms, which are microscopic organisms often found in aquatic environments.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026

But living organisms on Earth only function with one of those forms.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

The achievement demonstrated that homochirality could be created through a chemical reaction rather than being unique to living organisms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

I mean, who really cares about dividing decimals or contrasting the parts of plants, animals, and one-celled organisms when you’ve had the kind of morning I have?

From "The Misfits" by James Howe

Related Words

• animal
• creature
• structure