Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A symbiotic relationship between two organisms of different species in which one derives some benefit while the other is unaffected.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Commensal existence or mode of living; the state of being commensal; commensality. Also called
symbiosis .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The act of eating together; table fellowship.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun biology A sharing of the same environment by two organisms where one species benefits and the other is unaffected. An example is barnacles on whales.
- noun The act of eating together; table fellowship.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the relation between two different kinds of organisms when one receives benefits from the other without damaging it
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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This kind of mutually beneficial external partnership is called commensalism, i.e. eating at the same table.] [Illustration: _P.oto: G.P. Duffus.
The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) A Plain Story Simply Told J. Arthur Thomson 1897
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He uses terms like commensalism and epiphyte, and primary and secondary forest, and crepuscular; and our brains scramble to keep up.
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He uses terms like commensalism and epiphyte, and primary and secondary forest, and crepuscular; and our brains scramble to keep up.
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Such commensalism may be restricted to the ilagiit, particularly when resources are scarce, or may include a large segment of the community.
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Katujiyuk open commensalism distribution of stored food within task group
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Nalaqtuk niqiliriiq nirriyaktuqtuq tugagauyuk-tigutuinnaq complementary restricted commensalism
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Although some of its forms are general in scope – commensalism being an example – most of its operations are founded in balanced reciprocal relations, with reciprocity enforced by social precepts that provide for inclusion as well as sanction.
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And also about how cats fare when they're cut off from human commensalism.
Controversial origins of the domestic dog Darren Naish 2006
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Ecology draws boundaries between taxa, but also elaborates a typology of interactions between them – parasitism, commensalism, mutualism, etc.
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But whether the commercial commensalism would also cover the cultural sphere is a question difficult to answer.
Sunlit Path for China Tusar N Mohapatra 2006
vendingmachine commented on the word commensalism
mutualism vs commensalism vs parasitism
March 9, 2017