Standard Lemma guide

DNA

name · noun · phrase · verb · 15 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌdiːɛnˈeɪ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˌdiˌɛnˈeɪ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: D IY1 EH2 N EY1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

Defense Nuclear Agency, an agency of the United States Department of Defense which existed from 1971 to 1996 and has since been reorganized as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, historical

Topics: government, military, politics, war

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (“a nucleic acid found in all living things (and some non-living things such as certain viruses) which consists of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix; encoded in its structure are genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable

Topics: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, genetics, medicine, microbiology, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: thread of life

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The part of a living thing that carries genetic information.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, countable, informal, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

The fundamental nature or values of a person, or an organization or other thing, especially when considered as innate or immutable.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, figuratively, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Alternative form of DNA.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

phrase

Meaning 6

Did not answer.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

phrase

Meaning 7

Did not arrive (used when someone fails to keep an appointment).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

phrase

Meaning 8

Did not attend.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

phrase

Meaning 9

Do not assume.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

phrase

Meaning 10

Does not apply.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

phrase

Meaning 11

Drugs 'n' alcohol.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

12

phrase

Meaning 12

Do not arm (that is, do not provide with a firearm).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US

Topics: government, military, politics, war

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

13

verb

Meaning 13

To examine a sample of (someone's) deoxyribonucleic acid.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

14

verb

Meaning 14

To place (someone) under a DNA (do not arm) order because of mental illness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US

Topics: government, military, politics, war

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

15

noun

Meaning 15

(biochemistry) a long linear polymer found in the nucleus of a cell and formed from nucleotides and shaped like a double helix; associated with the transmission of genetic information

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • DNA is the king of molecules

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: deoxyribonucleic acid, desoxyribonucleic acid

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: polymer

Narrower terms: operon, complementary DNA, cDNA, episome, exon, coding DNA, intron, noncoding DNA, junk DNA, recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid, recombinant DNA, sticky end, transposon, jumping gene

History

Etymology

An initialism of the various terms listed below. The verb sense is derived from noun etymology 2, phrase sense 7.

The noun is an initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid. The verb is derived from the noun.

Across languages

Translations

88 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: DNS — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Arabic: دِنَا (dinā) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Armenian: ԴՆԹ (DNTʻ) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Azerbaijani: DNT — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Bulgarian: ДНК (DNK) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Catalan: ADN — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Chinese Mandarin: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Danish: dna — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Dutch: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Dutch: DNZ — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Finnish: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • French: ADN — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Galician: ADN — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Georgian: დნმ (dnm) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • German: DNS — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • German: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Greek: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Hebrew: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Hebrew: דנ״א (dn"a) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Hindi: डीएनए (ḍīenae) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Hungarian: DNS — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Icelandic: DNA n DKS — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Interlingua: ADN — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Interlingua: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Irish: ADN — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Irish: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Italian: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Italian: ADN — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Japanese: DNA (dī-enu-ē) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Japanese: ディー・エヌ・エー (dī-enu-ē) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Kazakh: ДНҚ (DNQ) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Khmer: ឌីអិនអេ (dii ʼən ʼee) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Korean: 디엔에이 (dienei) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Lao: ອາເດແອັນ (ʼā dē ǣ ʼan) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Lao: ດີເອັນເອ (dī ē ʼan ʼē) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Latvian: DNS — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Lithuanian: DNR — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Macedonian: ДНК (DNK) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Māori: pītau ira — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Persian: دیانای (di-en-ey) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Polish: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Portuguese: ADN — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Romanian: ADN — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Russian: ДНК (DNK) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Serbo-Croatian: ДНК — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Serbo-Croatian: DNK — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Slovak: DNK — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Slovak: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Slovene: DNK — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Spanish: ADN — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Swedish: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Tagalog: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Tamil: அனடி (aṉaṭi) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Thai: ดีเอ็นเอ — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Turkish: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Ukrainian: ДНК (DNK) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Urdu: ڈی این اے (ḍī-en-e) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Vietnamese: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Welsh: DNA — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Yiddish: דע־ען־אַ (de-en-á) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Yiddish: די־ען־איי (di-en-éy) — initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid (for full forms, see deoxyribonucleic acid)
  • Finnish: DNA — (informal, loosely) part of a living thing that carries genetic information
  • Finnish: perimä — (informal, loosely) part of a living thing that carries genetic information
  • Macedonian: ДНК (DNK) — (informal, loosely) part of a living thing that carries genetic information
  • Macedonian: ге́ном (génom) — (informal, loosely) part of a living thing that carries genetic information
  • Polish: DNA — (informal, loosely) part of a living thing that carries genetic information
  • Swedish: DNA — (informal, loosely) part of a living thing that carries genetic information
  • Swedish: arvsmassa — (informal, loosely) part of a living thing that carries genetic information
  • Welsh: DNA — (informal, loosely) part of a living thing that carries genetic information
  • Yiddish: דע־ען־אַ (de-en-á) — (informal, loosely) part of a living thing that carries genetic information
  • Yiddish: די־ען־איי (di-en-éy) — (informal, loosely) part of a living thing that carries genetic information
  • Yiddish: ירושה־שיפֿער (yerúshe-shífer) — (informal, loosely) part of a living thing that carries genetic information
  • Finnish: luonto — fundamental nature or values of a person, etc.
  • Macedonian: при́рода (príroda) — fundamental nature or values of a person, etc.
  • Polish: natura — fundamental nature or values of a person, etc.
  • Swedish: DNA — fundamental nature or values of a person, etc.
  • Swedish: anlag — fundamental nature or values of a person, etc.
  • Swedish: arvsanlag — fundamental nature or values of a person, etc.
  • Swedish: kynne — fundamental nature or values of a person, etc.
  • Finnish: tutkia DNA — to examine a sample of (someone’s) deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Macedonian: и́спита ДНК (íspita DNK) — to examine a sample of (someone’s) deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Macedonian: пре́гледа ДНК (prégleda DNK) — to examine a sample of (someone’s) deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Macedonian: на́прави ДНК (nápravi DNK) — to examine a sample of (someone’s) deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Polish: badać DNA — to examine a sample of (someone’s) deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Polish: zbadać DNA — to examine a sample of (someone’s) deoxyribonucleic acid
  • Finnish: kieltää aseenkanto — to place (someone) under a DNA (do not arm) order because of mental illness
  • Polish: zabraniać uzbrajania — to place (someone) under a DNA (do not arm) order because of mental illness
  • Polish: zabronić uzbrajania — to place (someone) under a DNA (do not arm) order because of mental illness