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Meaning: a prefix used to make words with a sense opposite to that of the root word; in this case, meaning "without" or "-less". This is usually used to describe organisms without a certain characteristic, as well as organisms in which that characteristic may not be immediately obvious.
This glossary of biology terms is a list of definitions of fundamental terms and concepts used in biology, the study of life and of living organisms.It is intended as introductory material for novices; for more specific and technical definitions from sub-disciplines and related fields, see Glossary of cell biology, Glossary of genetics, Glossary of evolutionary biology, Glossary of ecology ...
A contronym is a word with two opposite meanings. For example, the word original can mean "authentic, traditional", or "novel, never done before". This feature is also called enantiosemy, [1] [2] enantionymy (enantio-means "opposite"), antilogy or autoantonymy. An enantiosemic term is by definition polysemic.
An antonym is one of a pair of words with opposite meanings. Each word in the pair is the antithesis of the other. A word may have more than one antonym. There are three categories of antonyms identified by the nature of the relationship between the opposed meanings.
Also called functionalism. The Darwinian view that many or most physiological and behavioral traits of organisms are adaptations that have evolved for specific functions or for specific reasons (as opposed to being byproducts of the evolution of other traits, consequences of biological constraints, or the result of random variation). adaptive radiation The simultaneous or near-simultaneous ...
refer to something about biology itself; for instance, not a branch of biology; are broadly applicable terms, not specific to a small subset of organisms; do not fit well into any other more specific existing terminology category; Anatomical terms are not included here and appear in sub-categories of the main Anatomy category.
M phase See mitosis. macromolecule Any very large molecule composed of dozens, hundreds, or thousands of covalently bonded atoms, especially one with biological significance. . Many important biomolecules, such as nucleic acids and proteins, are polymers consisting of a repeated series of smaller monomers; others such as lipids and carbohydrates may not be polymeric but are nevertheless large ...
Facultative means "optional" or "discretionary" (antonym obligate), used mainly in biology in phrases such as: . Facultative (FAC), facultative wetland (FACW), or facultative upland (FACU): wetland indicator statuses for plants