Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Biology The process in cell division by which the nucleus divides, typically consisting of four stages, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase, and normally resulting in two new nuclei, each of which contains a complete copy of the parental chromosomes. Also called karyokinesis.
- n. Biology The entire process of cell division including division of the nucleus and the cytoplasm.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Splitting of the chromatin of a nucleus, or subdivision of any minute granular bodies embedded in living protoplasm. The mitosis occurring in nuclear kinetics is commonly qualified as karyomitosis.
- n. A figure occurring during mitosis as a result of that process.
Wiktionary
- n. cytology The division of a cell nucleus in which the genome is copied and separated into two identical halves. It is normally followed by cell division.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Biol.) See karyokinesis.
WordNet 3.0
- n. cell division in which the nucleus divides into nuclei containing the same number of chromosomes
Etymologies
- From German Mitosis, from Ancient Greek μίτος (mitos, "thread") + -osis, probably in reference to the thread-like chromatin seen during mitosis. (Wiktionary)
- Greek mitos, warp thread + -osis. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Science keeps eddying into its past: the word mitosis—Greek for “thread”—is resonant here again.”
“All life divided through mitosis, which is asexual reproduction, not female.”
Think Progress » Zakaria: Rumsfeld ‘Seems In A Parallel Universe and Slightly Deranged’
“The entire process of cell division, referred to as mitosis, takes only about an hour.”
“In the simplest form of reproduction, one cell cutting itself in two to make two new ones, known as mitosis, the change begins in the nucleus, or kernel.”
“Well, it was more about the way chromosomes get divided or doubled in two processes called mitosis and meiosis.”
“(in a process called mitosis, depicted on the right), their genomes grow shorter until they reach a point where replication can no longer occur.”
“Russian, German, and other biophotonics experts, adopting the term "biophotons" from Fritz Albert Popp, have theorized that they may be involved in various cell functions, such as mitosis, or even that they may be produced and detected by the DNA in the cell nucleus.”
“The intricate physiological processes which accompany this "mitosis" have been very closely studied of late years.”
“Mr. Kahn's lectures seem almost like prerecorded peer teaching, like the smartest kid in the dorm is helping you understand "mitosis".”
“We will feel hope with the transparency of our entrapment, and just like on a cellular level, the walls of our universes will become beyond the process of 'mitosis', but that with an equilibrium flow, naturally progressing our youth into adolescence.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘mitosis’.
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Splitsville
bifurcation
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polymorph's Words
pornerastic, yeaux, enantiadromia, synchronicity, transubstantiation, sensimilla, slough, scaphism, symbiosis, prolix, orgiastic, cryptogamic and 245 more...
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slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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the omnibus
preponderance, idioglossia, acumen, heteronym, flux, anacoluthon, metonymy, impetus, constellation, exegesis, revelatory, cloistered and 877 more...
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Words of Dinosaurology
This quickly got bigger and weirder than originally intended, so now it's housing terms that relate to the study of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. See also Dinosaurs, Pterosaurs, Ichthy...
zygopophyses, ziphodont, plesiomorphic, cleidoic, endothermy, ectothermy, viviparous, vertebrae, cervical, dorsal, sacral, caudal and 628 more...
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nfk9595's Words
magnetohydrodynamics, bovine, epistle, gargantuan, kerfuffle, verbiage, morose, coup de main, elan, achtung, uber, verboten and 497 more...
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100 Words Everyone Should Know, Accor...
this list appeared in many American newspapers in the fall of 2002.
abjure, abrogate, abstemious, acumen, antebellum, auspicious, belie, bellicose, bowdlerize, chicanery, chromosome, churlish and 88 more...
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common words
mei- root words, a changing mixture
common, communion, community, meatus, conge, permeate, irremeable, mew, molt, mutate, commute, permute and 87 more...
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What probably should show up in my pa...
ancillary, bifurcation, matrifocality, mitosis, sacrosanct, eschatology, polemic, jeremiad, myopic, parsimonious, robust, cogently and 29 more...
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100 Words That All High School Gradua...
reference
abjure, abrogate, abstemious, acumen, antebellum, auspicious, belie, bellicose, bowdlerize, chicanery, chromosome, churlish and 88 more...
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absquatulate, bloviate, clinchpoop
In which I reveal that, for the most part, I have the sense of humour of a third-grader.
scuttlebutt, fisticuffs, milquetoast, besotted, behemoth, filibuster, verklempt, indefatigable, plenipotentiary, porcine, mitosis, strumpet and 65 more...
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100 Words / 51-70
lugubrious, metamorphosis, mitosis, moiety, nanotechnology, nihilism, nomenclautre, nonsectarian, notarize, obsequious, oligarchy, omnipotent and 8 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for mitosis.
ofravens For sentimental reasons, probably my favourite joke of all time. :) Mar 11, 2008
cricket Oh gawd, ofravens. ;-) Mar 10, 2008
ofravens Q: What did the biologist say when he dropped his slides on the lab floor?
A: Don't step on mitosis! Mar 10, 2008