pluripotent

American

[ploor-uh-poht-nt] / ˌplʊər əˈpoʊt nt /

adjective

Biology.

(of a cell) capable of developing into any type of cell or tissue except those that form a placenta or embryo.

pluripotent stem cells.

pluripotent British

/ ˌplʊrɪˈpəʊtənt /

adjective

biology capable of differentiating into different types of body cell

"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

Other Word Forms

pluripotency noun

Etymology

Origin of pluripotent

First recorded in 1915–20; from Latin plūr- (stem of plūs “plus”) + English potent 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.

“These results provide a failure to confirm the existence of pluripotent VSELs,” the paper read.

From Slate • Mar. 30, 2026

Dr. Cohen's laboratory has led the way in developing techniques that grow living brain cells from patient samples using induced pluripotent stem cell technology.

From Science Daily • Oct. 14, 2025

Once you give a firm that power, you are disarming everyone else and giving them this pluripotent doomsday device that they can use to take away value and shift things around and screw you over.

From Slate • Oct. 13, 2025

Others may be important for keeping human stem cells "pluripotent", or able to become any one of many different types of human cell.

From Salon • Jun. 1, 2025

The researchers found they could achieve up to a 92% endothelial cell conversion rate by applying two proteins -- SOX17 and FGF2 -- to human pluripotent stem cells.

From Science Daily • Mar. 21, 2024

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