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syncytium

American  
[sin-sish-uhm, -ee-uhm] / sɪnˈsɪʃ əm, -i əm /

noun

Biology.
  • syncytia
    plural
  1. a multinucleate mass of cytoplasm that is not separated into cells.


syncytium British  
/ sɪnˈsɪtɪəm /

noun

  1. zoology a mass of cytoplasm containing many nuclei and enclosed in a cell membrane

"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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns


Etymology

Origin of syncytium

From New Latin, dating back to 1875–80; see origin at syn-, cyto-, -ium


Vocabulary lists containing syncytium

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.

See Examples For:

The epidermis can be either a single layer of cells or a syncytium, which is a multinucleated cell formed from the fusion of uninucleated cells.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

The cells are interconnected physically and electrochemically to act as a syncytium.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

Attached cells form long, branching cardiac muscle fibers that are, essentially, a mechanical and electrochemical syncytium allowing the cells to synchronize their actions.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

The wave of contraction that allows the heart to work as a unit, called a functional syncytium, begins with the pacemaker cells.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

If we keep at it, we will become a computer to end all computers, capable of fusing all the thoughts of the world into a syncytium.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

The newly formed KC-like syncytia take over the filtration function of the actual Kupffer cells from then on.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2023

In the process, they identified a new cell type, which they call Kupffer cell-like syncytia.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2023

However, the neuronal syncytia seen in the lab dishes and organoids also had some peculiarities that made them stand out from those seen in lungs.

From Science Magazine ● Jun. 6, 2023

And although SARS-CoV-2 seems to trigger syncytia in cell culture, they don’t appear in animal models, Nicholls says: “In the hamsters we looked at, in the mice we looked at, you don’t get the syncytia.”

From Science Magazine ● Dec. 20, 2021

Kei Sato, a virologist at the University of Tokyo, has shown that the more pathogenic Delta variant was more likely to cause syncytia in cell culture.

From Science Magazine ● Dec. 20, 2021

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