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

For the living system, they used the nematode C. elegans as a model organism.

From Science Daily

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

From Science Daily

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

From Science Daily

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

From Science Daily

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.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• animal
• creature
• structure