commensal

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
There is co-operation when the commensal is not less useful to his host than the latter is to the commensal himself, when the two are concerned in living in a reciprocal relation and in developing their double activity in corresponding ways toward a single and an identical goal.

View all »
Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. adjective Of, relating to, or characterized by a symbiotic relationship in which one species is benefited while the other is unaffected.
  2. noun An organism participating in a symbiotic relationship in which one species derives some benefit while the other is unaffected.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (49)

  • Carma1k / k peripheral Treg pool may also contribute to dampening T cell responses directed towards self-antigens or commensal flora and may release more of the regulatory cytokine TGFβ than wild-type T reg cells. —  PLoS Biology: New Articles
  • By the way, most organisms relevant to human exploration, such as well-studied human commensal microbes and food organisms, meet this criterion. —  SPACE.com
  • As IBD patients exhibit inflammatory responses to their commensal intestinal microflora, factors that induce translocation of commensal bacteria across the intestinal epithelium may contribute to IBD pathogenesis. —  BioMed Central - Latest articles
  • C. jejuni 81-176 induced translocation of commensal intestinal bacteria to the MLNs, liver, and spleen of infected mice. —  BioMed Central - Latest articles
  • A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin studied the effects of wiping out the commensal gut bacteria using antibiotics in six moth and butterfly species. —  PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories
More examples »
 

Tags

commensal hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 112 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, sharing a meal, from Medieval Latin commēnsālis : Latin com-, com- + Latin mēnsa, table.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English commensal = French commensal = Spanish comensal = Portuguese commensal = Italian commensale, from Middle Latin commensalis, from Latin com-, together, + mensa, table.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/kɑˈmɛnsəl/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

We are still working on calculating this word's frequency.

Recently looked up

muchness · patent-leather · belgrade · KiwiRail · pomp

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

unicycle hockey · Ipanema · k for teria · a for a disiac · American