organism

[awr-guh-niz-uhm]

noun

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 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

/ 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

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

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of organism¹

First recorded in 1655–65; organ + -ism

Example Sentences

These activities pose threats to the delicate ecosystem and the organisms that depend on it.

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These compounds serve as important energy sources for many subsurface organisms.

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"Most living organisms, including humans, cannot survive even briefly in the vacuum of space," says lead author Tomomichi Fujita of Hokkaido University.

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Executives involved in China’s efforts liken the future of factories to living organisms that can increasingly think and act for themselves, moving beyond the preprogrammed tasks at traditionally-automated factories.

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"It showed that the tool is not only for cells in the lab. It can be used as well in real living organisms."

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Related Words

• animal 
• creature 
• structure