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

One of the most abundant organisms on Earth, algae captures carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and yields oil that theoretically could be used to make transportation fuel.

From The Wall Street Journal

Niemann points out that these particles are small enough to enter living organisms.

From Science Daily

The Brunet lab has played a leading role in establishing the killifish as a model organism.

From Science Daily

This work could reveal whether other organisms use similar strategies to survive in extreme cold environments.

From Science Daily

This movement into lower soil layers is linked not only to the decomposition of organic material but also to biological activity, such as organisms that help break down leaves and redistribute particles.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• animal
• creature
• structure