somatoplasm

[ suh-mat-uh-plaz-uhm, soh-muh-tuh- ]

nounCell Biology.
  1. the cytoplasm of a somatic cell, especially as distinguished from germ plasm.

Origin of somatoplasm

1

Other words from somatoplasm

  • so·ma·to·plas·tic, adjective

Words Nearby somatoplasm

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use somatoplasm in a sentence

  • In these higher animals this protoplasm is known as germplasm, that in body cells as somatoplasm.

    Taboo and Genetics | Melvin Moses Knight, Iva Lowther Peters, and Phyllis Mary Blanchard
  • The somatoplasm can only in the most general way affect the self-perpetuating, close corporation of the germ-plasm.

  • The somatoplasm arises from, and hence must be regarded as a modification of, the germ-plasm.

  • The germ-plasm can increase indefinitely in the lapse of generations, increase of the somatoplasm is limited.

  • From this point of view every individual consists of only two parts,—germ-plasm and soma or somatoplasm.

    Applied Eugenics | Paul Popenoe and Roswell Hill Johnson

British Dictionary definitions for somatoplasm

somatoplasm

/ (ˈsəʊmətəˌplæzəm) /


noun
  1. biology

    • the protoplasm of a somatic cell

    • the somatic cells collectively: Compare germ plasm

Derived forms of somatoplasm

  • somatoplastic, adjective

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