ostracod
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- ostracodan adjective
- ostracodous adjective
Etymology
Origin of ostracod
1860–65; < New Latin Ostracoda name of the subclass < Greek ostrakṓdēs, equivalent to óstrak ( on ) shell, tile ( see ostracize) + -ōdēs -ode 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That is 273 million years earlier than the glowing ostracod crustaceans that previously held the title of earliest evolution of bioluminescence in animals.
From Science Daily • Apr. 23, 2024
The ostracod genome is longer than our own and has repetitive regions and other complexities that make it challenging to sequence from single specimens snared at sea.
From Science Magazine • Aug. 24, 2022
Moreover, those tiny differences in the ostracod luciferase “correlate with different types of signals,” as this enzyme’s activity can dictate the brightness, duration, and other features of each flash.
From Science Magazine • Aug. 24, 2022
So they were able to compare characteristics of extinct ostracod species with the abundant living species.
From Salon • Jun. 8, 2018
Seventy million years ago, in a warm shallow sea, swam an ostracod — a tiny bean-shaped creature, no bigger than a grain of sand.
From Salon • Jun. 8, 2018
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
