Standard Lemma guide
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.
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noun
Synonym of gemma (“an asexual reproductive structure, as found in animals such as hydra (genus Hydra) and plants such as liverworts (division Marchantiophyta), consisting of a cluster of cells from which a new individual can develop”)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic
Topics: biology, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: gemma
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Synonym of gemma (“an asexual reproductive structure, as found in animals such as hydra (genus Hydra) and plants such as liverworts (division Marchantiophyta), consisting of a cluster of cells from which a new individual can develop”)
A small gemma or bud of dormant embryonic cells produced by some freshwater sponges (phylum Porifera) that develops into a new sponge.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, specifically
Topics: biology, natural-sciences, zoology
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
In the obsolete theory of pangenesis propounded by the English scientist Charles Darwin (1809–1882): a hypothetical particle once thought to be the basis of heredity.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
Topics: biology, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Synonym of plumule (“the first bud, or growing point, of a plant embryo, situated above the cotyledons”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: plumule
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Synonym of dendritic spine (“a small membranous protrusion from the dendrite of a neuron that typically receives input from a single axon at the synapse”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: medicine, neurology, neuroscience, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: dendritic spine
Antonyms: none provided
noun
the physically discrete element that Darwin proposed as responsible for heredity
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: hypothesis, possibility, theory
History
Borrowed from French gemmule, from Latin gemmula (“small bud; small gem”), from gemma (“bud of a plant; gem, jewel; thing made of precious stones”) (further etymology uncertain; possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh1- (“to beget, give birth; to produce”), but see further at that entry) + -ula (feminine form of -ulus (diminutive suffix)).
Across languages
11 source translations are retained for this English entry.
