self-replicating
Americanadjective
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reproducing itself by its own power or inherent nature.
self-replicating organisms.
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Genetics. making an exact copy or copies of itself, as a strand of DNA.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of self-replicating
First recorded in 1955–60
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.
Curiously, of the 4.9 billion reactions generated, only hundreds of reaction cycles could be called "self-replicating," which means that the molecules produce additional copies of themselves.
From Science Daily • Jan. 24, 2024
Showing the legislators how ChatGPT could concoct an entirely convincing senator’s speech, Altman told them that A.I. should be blocked from self-replicating or escaping into the wild.
From Slate • Jun. 8, 2023
For instance, in a series of experiments in the 2010s, geneticist J. Craig Venter and his team successfully transplanted synthetic genomes into hollowed-out Mycoplasma bacteria to create designer self-replicating bacterial cells.
From Scientific American • Apr. 6, 2023
The device uses self-replicating microorganisms to turn scraps into compost.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 6, 2023
The chloroplasts in all plants are, similarly, independent and self-replicating lodgers, with their own DNA and RNA and ribosomes.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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.
