Standard Lemma guide

gastrulation

noun · 2 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.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: G AE2 S T R AH0 L EY1 SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The stage of embryo development at which a gastrula is formed from the blastula by the inward migration of cells.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, embryology, medicine, natural-sciences, sciences

Examples

  • 1929, Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Sciences, Volumes 13-19, South Dakota Academy of Science, page 52, In the instances described by various observers and in the quadruple one described herein, these gastrulations no doubt began at different times, since the embryos are of different sizes.
  • 2020, Konner M. Winkley, et al., 8: Tunicate Gastrulation, Lilianna Solnica-Krezel (editor), Gastrulation, Elsevier (Academic Press), page 227, Pharmacological inhibition of RhoA at later steps of gastrulation causes the apical constrictions to relax, indicating a persistent requirement for this pathway.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the process in which a gastrula develops from a blastula by the inward migration of cells

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: organic process, biological process

History

Etymology

From German Gastrulation, coined by Ernst Haeckel in his 1872 work "Biology of Calcareous Sponges" (see also gastrula).

Across languages

Translations

5 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • French: gastrulation — stage of embryo development
  • German: Gastrulation — stage of embryo development
  • Italian: gastrulazione — stage of embryo development
  • Romanian: gastrulație — stage of embryo development
  • Swedish: gastrulation — stage of embryo development