unicellular
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unicellular
Explanation
In biology, the adjective unicellular describes an organism that has only one single cell, like most kinds of bacteria. You're most likely to see the word unicellular in a biology textbook, where it is used to talk about microscopic, single-celled organisms. Many types of fungi are unicellular, as well as amoebas, bacteria, and other tiny creatures and plants. The word unicellular combines the Latin prefix meaning "one," uni, and the word cellular, which has the root word cella, "small room."
Vocabulary lists containing unicellular
Cell Biology - Middle School
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"Joyas Voladoras" by Brian Doyle
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Cell Biology - High School
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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.
Though Jablonski is more bullish on the survival prospects of unicellular life, there is some comfort for the multicellular among us too.
From Salon ● Feb. 25, 2025
For example, the researchers found evidence of "heterospecific killing," where a cell engulfs and kills a cell of a different species, across a wide range of unicellular, facultatively multicellular, and obligate multicellular organisms.
From Science Daily ● May 21, 2024
To do this, the researchers surveyed Golgi structure in representatives of various animal taxa and closely related unicellular eukaryotes.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 29, 2024
They are also astonishingly canny for unicellular organisms, with the ability to rapidly develop new defenses against antibiotics and then pass them along to other bacteria through genetic material.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2024
In the green sea-weeds reproduction is effected by simple cell division in the unicellular species, and by spores resulting from the union of the contents of two cells in the others.
From Sea-Weeds, Shells and Fossils by Peter Gray
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
