phototroph

American

[foh-tuh-trof, -trohf] / ˈfoʊ təˌtrɒf, -ˌtroʊf /

noun

Biology.

any organism that uses light as its principal source of energy.

phototroph British

/ ˌfəʊtəʊˈtrɒfɪk, ˈfəʊtəʊˌtrɒf /

noun

an organism that obtains energy from sunlight for the synthesis of organic compounds

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

phototroph Scientific

/ fō′tə-trŏf′ /

An organism that manufactures its own food from inorganic substances using light for energy. Green plants, certain algae, and photosynthetic bacteria are phototrophs.
Also called photoautotroph

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

phototrophic

adjective

Etymology

Origin of phototroph

First recorded in 1940–45; photo- + -troph

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.

"Here we have a single gene, and we're just yanking it across contexts into a lineage that's never been a phototroph before, and it just works," says Burnetti.

From Science Daily • Jan. 12, 2024

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023