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  1. tardigrade love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Any of various slow-moving, microscopic invertebrates of the phylum Tardigrada, related to the arthropods and having four body segments and eight legs and living in water or damp moss. Also called water bear.
  2. adj. Of or belonging to the Tardigrada.
  3. adj. Slow in action; slow-moving.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Slowgoing; slow in movement; specifically, noting the Tardigrada in either sense. Compare gravigrade.
  2. n. One of the Tardigrada.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Sluggish; moving slowly.
  2. n. zoology A member of the animal phylum Tardigrada.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. rare Moving or stepping slowly; slow-paced.
  2. adj. (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the Tardigrada.
  3. n. (Zoöl.) One of the Tardigrada.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. an arthropod of the division Tardigrada

Etymologies

  1. From Latin tardigradus ("slowly stepping"), from tardus ("slow") + gradior ("step, walk") (Wiktionary)
  2. New Latin Tardigrada, phylum name, from neuter pl. of Latin tardigradus, slow-moving : tardus, slow + -gradus, walking, moving (from gradī, to go; see transgress). Adj., sense 2, from Latin tardigradus. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • ““The Omnipod said he was a species of tardigrade, or water bear.””

    Simon & Schuster: The Search For WondLa

  • ““Eva Nine, I have heard stories of beasts telepathically imprinting onto others—like wild dargs becoming tame for frint farmers—but what you call a ‘tardigrade’ is no pet.””

    Simon & Schuster: The Search For WondLa

  • “But, as you suggested regarding the tardigrade, I need to speak with them.”

    Simon & Schuster: The Search For WondLa

  • “I asked, indicating the tardigrade, “What has this to do with me?””

    Simon & Schuster: Masked

  • “That's a tardigrade or waterbear, one of the world's hardiest living species!”

    New Discoveries in the Animal Kingdom

  • “There are several freshwater micrometazoans -- tardigrades leap to mind -- that live in ostensibly terrestrial habitats at human scales (such as a clump of moss), but that are only metabolically active when these areas are "damp" (which, to a tardigrade, means "totally submerged").”

    What is a terrestrial animal?

  • “I forgot to ask him what the tardigrade tasted like.”

    So many phyla so little time to eat them all

  • “Not much tardigrade love there, so instead, let me offer links to www.tardigrades.com, tardigrades.bio.unc.edu, and the actual tardigradesinspace.blogspot.com site which hasn't been updated since November.”

    ianrandalstrock's Journal

  • “Swedish researchers loaded two species of tardigrade already in their desiccated form onto the European Space Agency's Biopan-6 experimental platform, where for 10 days they were exposed to the radiation, vacuum and low temperature of space.”

    The Wall Street Journal: Prospects and Perils

  • “The most common species are the tardigrade, or "water-bear", and a small shrimp nicknamed the sea-monkey.”

    Tagruato Website Hacked!

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synonyms (2)

Words with the same meaning

  1. slow-paced
  1. water bear

hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. arthropod

reverse dictionary (8)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. tardigradous
  1. water bear
  1. slow-gaited
  1. slow-paced
  1. stylet
  1. sloth animalcule
  1. cholopus
  1. sloth

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  1. animal

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‘tardigrade’ has been looked up 1390 times, added to 16 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 13.