Standard Lemma guide

macromolecule

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

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  • /ˈmækɹəʊˌmɒlɪkjuːl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A very large molecule, especially used in reference to large biological polymers (e.g. nucleic acids and proteins).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, microbiology, natural-sciences, organic-chemistry, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

any very large complex molecule; found only in plants and animals

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: supermolecule

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: molecule, organic compound

Narrower terms: protein, carbohydrate, saccharide, sugar, lipid, lipide, lipoid, nucleic acid

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *meh2ḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-rós Proto-Indo-European *mh2ḱrós Proto-Hellenic *makrós Ancient Greek μᾰκρός (măkrós)der. French macro-der. English macro- Latin mōlēs Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Proto-Italic *-kelos Latin -cula New Latin moleculalbor. French moléculebor. English molecule English macromolecule From macro- + molecule.

Across languages

Translations

14 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: macromolècula — large molecule
  • Czech: makromolekula — large molecule
  • Finnish: makromolekyyli — large molecule
  • Georgian: მაკრომოლეკულა (maḳromoleḳula) — large molecule
  • German: Makromolekül — large molecule
  • Hungarian: makromolekula — large molecule
  • Icelandic: stórsameind — large molecule
  • Italian: macromolecola — large molecule
  • Japanese: 高分子 (kōbunshi) — large molecule
  • Kazakh: макромолекула (makromolekula) — large molecule
  • Persian: ماکرومولکول (mâkromolekul) — large molecule
  • Portuguese: macromolécula — large molecule
  • Romanian: macromoleculă — large molecule
  • Spanish: macromolécula — large molecule