POLYMORPHISM • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Polymorphism

Translators

Dictionaries

Courses

Other

Home

Listen

noun

Polymorphism n.

(Crystallog.) Same as Pleomorphism.

(Biol.)

(a)

The capability of assuming different forms; the capability of widely varying in form.

(b)

Existence in many forms; the coexistence, in the same locality, of two or more distinct forms independent of sex, not connected by intermediate gradations, but produced from common parents.

See images of 'Polymorphism'

Etymology of 'Polymorphism'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Polymorphism" Quotes from Famous Books

... elaborated; the others in times of famine approach them, caress them with their antennae, and obtain by solicitation a drop of honey which the large ones disgorge from the crop. Here, then, is a colony in which the division of labour has reached a remarkable degree of polymorphism. Some of the members accomplish the work of engineers and masons, while the others fabricate for the community a store of honey. Instead of depositing these provisions in cells like bees, they preserve them in their own digestive tube. This custom has re-acted to such ...

— The Industries of Animals • Frederic Houssay

... three different immune species. There is much that is interesting to be said in regard to these species, but it would be out of keeping with the general tenor of this paper to give details of this very complicated case of polymorphism in P. dardanus. Anyone who is interested in the matter will find a full and exact statement of the case in as far as we know it, in Poulton's "Essays on Evolution" (pages 373-375). (Professor Poulton has corrected some wrong ...

— Darwin and Modern Science • A.C. Seward and Others

Words linked to "Polymorphism" : single nucleotide polymorphism, organic phenomenon, chemical science, chemical phenomenon, polymorphic, SNP, polymorphous, chemistry, dimorphism, biology, pleomorphism, biological science, genetics, genetic science