Standard Lemma guide

holocrine

adj · 1 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.

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Pronunciation

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1

adj

Meaning 1

Of or relating to a mode of secretion in some exocrine glands in which the plasma membrane ruptures, releasing the cell's cytoplasm into the lumen of the gland.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: anatomy, biology, histology, medicine, natural-sciences, sciences

Examples

  • 2007, Galina N. Solntseva, N. N. Dergunova (translator), Teresa Ott (linguistic editor), Morphology of the Auditory and Vestibular Organs in Mammals, with Emphasis on Marine Species, page 42, In Chiroptera and Insectivora, the holocrine glands can form glandular complexes.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole, entire”) and κρῑ́νω (krī́nō, “to separate”).