polymorph
[pol-ee-mawrf]
- Biology. an organism having more than one adult form, as the different castes in social ants.
- Crystallography. any of the crystal forms assumed by a substance that exhibits polymorphism.
- Anatomy. granulocyte.
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Origin of polymorph
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for polymorphic
Historical Examples
But it is polymorphic variability in the strictest sense of the word.
Darwin and Modern ScienceA.C. Seward and Others
Passant oultre—one of Rabelais' favourite and most polymorphic expressions.
A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1George Saintsbury
Multiform, mul′ti-form, adj. having many forms, polymorphic.
Polymorphic species may now be regarded as the link which unites ordinary variability with the historical production of species.
Darwin and Modern ScienceA.C. Seward and Others
Some of the species are polymorphic, many varieties being produced from a single batch of eggs.
The Butterfly BookWilliam Jacob Holland
polymorph
- a species of animal or plant that exhibits polymorphism
- any of the crystalline forms of a chemical compound that exhibits polymorphism
- Also called: polymorphonuclear leucocyte any of a group of white blood cells that have lobed nuclei and granular cytoplasm and function as phagocytes; they include neutrophils, basophils, and eosinophils
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Word Origin
C19: from Greek polumorphos having many forms
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for polymorphic
polymorph
n.
"organism of several forms," 1828, from Greek polymorphos "of many forms" (see polymorphous).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper