Biology. a walled, single- to many-celled, reproductive body of an organism, capable of giving rise to a new individual either directly or indirectly.
a germ, germ cell, seed, or the like.
a reproductive body, produced by bacteria, fungi, various plants, and some protozoans, that develops into a new individual. A sexual spore is formed after the fusion of gametes and an asexual spore is the result of asexual reproduction
a germ cell, seed, dormant bacterium, or similar body
A usually one-celled reproductive body that can grow into a new organism without uniting with another cell. Spores are haploid (having only a single set of chromosomes). Fungi, algae, seedless plants, and certain protozoans reproduce asexually by spores. Plant spores that are dispersed by the wind have walls containing sporopollenin.
See more at alternation of generations
A similar one-celled body in seed-bearing plants; the macrospore or microspore. The macrospore of seed-bearing plants develops into a female gametophyte or megagametophyte, which is contained within the ovule and eventually produces the egg cells. (The megagametophyte is also called the embryo sac in angiosperms.) The microspore of seed-bearing plants develops into the male microgametophyte or pollen grain.
See endospore
What does -spore mean? The combining form -spore is used like a suffix meaning “spore.” It is often used in scientific terms, especially in biology. The form -spore ultimately comes from the Greek sporá, meaning “sowing” and “seed.” Sporadic, meaning "occasional," comes from the related Greek adjective sporadikós. Find out what sporadic has to do with seeds at our entry. What are variants of -spore?When used at the beginning of a word, as a prefix, -spore becomes spor-, spori-, or sporo-, as in sporocyst. A variant suffix used to create adjectives from nouns is -sporous, as in acrosporous, from acrospore. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles for spor-, spori-, sporo-, and -sporous.
1830–40; < New Latin spora < Greek sporá sowing, seed, akin to speírein to sow; see sperm 1
Spores are the seed-like cells that help some kinds of plants and bacteria to reproduce. Ferns and mosses reproduce using spores. Many plants reproduce by means of flowers, which make seeds. Most plants that don't produce seeds use spores to spread themselves around. Spores are microscopic, and plants like mosses and ferns make huge quantities of spores, which are blown around by the wind so they can grow in new places. Spore comes from the Greek spora, "seed-time" or "a sowing."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
On average, mosses now begin releasing spores about four weeks earlier than they did in 1990, and the peak of spore dispersal arrives roughly six weeks sooner.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 21, 2025
For a mushroom to grow, a fungal spore has to set up shop on a surface and produce mycelia.
From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2024
It produces a type of cell called a spore, which is very resistant to heating.
From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2023
IRVINE, Calif. — A drone flies over a peaceful Southern California marsh and unleashes a rain of larvae-killing bacterial spore pellets.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 29, 2023
Across the landscape weeds advanced; weeds corkscrewed their way into the walls around him and worked the walls until the weeds became their own spore.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
Unkelbauer, who studied palynology -- the study of microscopic biological material found in sediment such as pollen and spores -- illustrates a growing labour market mismatch in Germany.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
The experts warned that dormant mould spores could reactivate when the overbudget and delayed facilities finally open, posing a health hazard for the lifetime of the buildings.
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2026
This is partly because the bacterium forms spores that can survive treatment and later grow into new bacteria.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 11, 2026
It is only logical, writes Mr. Scharf in “The Giant Leap,” that this life should then spread itself through space in what he terms a great “dispersal,” as though humans were airborne seeds or spores.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
I didn’t know whether Osbert would expose us to spores from some deadly disease picked up during his secret meetings.
From "How I Live Now" by Meg Rosoff
The Oita prefecture produces 40% of Japan’s shiitake mushrooms, spored in the trunks of sawtooth oaks.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 19, 2017
The genus Marasmius, belonging to the white spored Agarics, has the power of reviving under moisture after withering, so it may represent a genus that endures longest.
From Among the Mushrooms A Guide For Beginners by Dallas, Ellen M.
Three types of spores may be said to prevail in the Tuberacei: the smooth spored, the warted or spinulose, and the areolate.
From Fungi: Their Nature and Uses by Cooke, M. C. (Mordecai Cubitt)
The simple spored rust first makes its appearance, and later the bilocular “mildew.”
From Fungi: Their Nature and Uses by Cooke, M. C. (Mordecai Cubitt)
Most of the former are firmer, while the black spored specimens soon deliquesce.
From The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Its Habitat and its Time of Growth by Hard, Miron Elisha
Lack of rain combined with several days of hard frost in a row will prevent mushrooms from sporing in the fall.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 16, 2022
Some are just starting to bear fruiting bodies, or sporing bodies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2022
This discoloration happens as the mushroom passes through the sporing process, and can result in overwhelming bitter notes, which the drying process helps dissipate.
From Salon ● Jan. 9, 2022
For the morning glory that spreads its petals at dawn, for geese flying south in autumn, for locusts swarming every 17 years and even for lowly slime molds sporing in daily cycles, timing is everything.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 13, 2014
Streaming steam—i. e., steam at 100°C.—destroys the vegetative forms of bacteria in from fifteen to twenty minutes, and the sporing forms in from one to two hours.
From The Elements of Bacteriological Technique A Laboratory Guide for Medical, Dental, and Technical Students. Second Edition Rewritten and Enlarged. by Eyre, J. W. H. (John William Henry)
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.
