saprophyte
noun
any organism that lives on dead organic matter, as certain fungi and bacteria.
saprophytic
-
a word derived from
saprophyte.
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.
It belongs to the class of saprophytic fungi, which feed on dead wood, or other decaying matter, and are vital for life on earth.
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2023
This may occur with plants that are parasitic or saprophytic.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
The passion to possess what is scarce, and nothing else, is a disease that develops as civilisation grows old and dogs it to the grave: it is saprophytic.
From Art by Clive Bell
Bacteria may be conveniently grouped under two heads: those that live upon dead organic matter, known as the saprophytic forms, and those that are found in living plants or animals, the true parasites.
From Insects and Diseases A Popular Account of the Way in Which Insects may Spread or Cause some of our Common Diseases by Rennie Wilbur Doane
Contractile vacuoles 1-3, a complex of variable arrangement; pellicle delicate; plastids discoid chlorophyll-bodies; reserves oil; eye-spot absent even in active state; holophytic or saprophytic, though with an anterior blind tubular depression simulating a pharynx.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 4 "Finland" to "Fleury, Andre" by Various
