Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, or located on the part of a radially symmetric animal from which the tentacles radiate or the side where the oral area is found.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- In zoology: Pertaining to the side of a radiate animal which contains the mouth: equivalent to oral, since the pole, surface, or aspect of the body whence parts radiate is also that in which the mouth is situated: the opposite of abactinal or aboral. The actinal side or surface may be the upper one, in the usual attitude of the animal, as in the case of a sea-anemone, which is fixed by its abactinal or aboral pole, and grows upward; or it may be the lower one, as in the case of a starfish, which creeps upon its actinal or oral surface. In a sea-urchin of more or less globular shape nearly the whole superficies is actinal.
- In general, having tentacles or rays.
Wiktionary
- adj. zoology Pertaining to the side or surface around the mouth in an animal that has radial symmetry such as a starfish.
- adj. zoology Pertaining to the axis of rotational symmetry in radiate animals.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. (Zoöl.) Pertaining to the part of a radiate animal which contains the mouth.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. (of radiate organisms) located on the surface or end on which the mouth is situated
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek ἀκτίς, ἀκτῖν- (actis, actin-, "ray") + -al. The usage was coined by Louis Agassiz (See quotations below.). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“[Footnote: When reference is made to the whole structure, including the internal organs as well as the solid parts of the surface, the terms _actinal_ and _ab-actinal_ are preferable to oral and ab-oral.] [Illustration: Sea-Urchin seen from the oral side, showing the zones with the spines and suckers; for the ab-oral side, on the summit of which the zones unite, see February Number, p. 216.]”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘actinal’.
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Zoological Terms
Terms used in Zoology
papilionaceous, actinost, gressorial, exuviate, nitid, trochal, demiss, loculus, crebrity, limes, pachytrichous, pachydactyl and 319 more...
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Fishful thinking
"It was then that Delirium noticed that she had absent-mindedly transformed into a hundred and eleven perfect, tiny multicolored fish."
Assortment of fishy or somehow entertaining fish...piscary, fishery, hatchery, pisces, piscine, piscation, piscatorial, pescetarian, piscivorous, expiscate, expiscatory, fishmonger and 81 more...
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