organism

American  

[awr-guh-niz-uhm] / ˈɔr gəˌnɪz əm /

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

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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

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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.

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Other Word Forms

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

Etymology

Origin of organism

First recorded in 1655–65; organ + -ism

Example Sentences

“There is a reason glyphosate and other modern synthetic pesticides have been produced with advanced technologies to have a hyper-specific mode of action to target the organisms they intend to.”

From Salon

This system ensures that scientists around the world are referring to the same organism when discussing a species.

From Science Daily

Over time, these tiny organisms reshaped the planet in enormous ways, including helping fill the atmosphere with oxygen and creating structures as durable as coral reefs.

From Science Daily

This is because chemicals are designed to target specific organisms or processes, for example insecticides should target insects.

From Science Daily

Despite their importance, salutogenic microbes, meaning those that support health, and beneficial biochemical compounds have received far less attention than disease-causing organisms.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• animal
• creature
• structure