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View synonyms for chromosome

chromosome

[ kroh-muh-sohm ]

noun

, Genetics.
  1. any of several threadlike bodies, consisting of chromatin, that carry the genes in a linear order: the human species has 23 pairs, designated 1 to 22 in order of decreasing size and X and Y for the sex-determining chromosomes. X chromosome ( def ), Y chromosome ( def ).


chromosome

/ ˈkrəʊməˌsəʊm /

noun

  1. any of the microscopic rod-shaped structures that appear in a cell nucleus during cell division, consisting of nucleoprotein arranged into units (genes) that are responsible for the transmission of hereditary characteristics See also homologous chromosomes
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


chromosome

/ krōmə-sōm′ /

  1. A structure in all living cells that consists of a single molecule of DNA bonded to various proteins and that carries the genes determining heredity. In all eukaryotic cells, the chromosomes occur as threadlike strands in the nucleus. During cell reproduction, these strands coil up and condense into much thicker structures that are easily viewed under a microscope. Chromosomes occur in pairs in all of the cells of eukaryotes except the reproductive cells, which have one of each chromosome, and some red blood cells (such as those of mammals) that expel their nuclei. In bacterial cells and other prokaryotes, which have no nucleus, the chromosome is a circular strand of DNA located in the cytoplasm.


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Derived Forms

  • ˌchromoˈsomal, adjective
  • ˌchromoˈsomally, adverb
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Other Words From

  • chro·mo·so·mal [kroh-m, uh, -, soh, -m, uh, l], adjective
  • chro·mo·so·mal·ly adverb
  • in·ter·chro·mo·so·mal adjective
  • in·ter·chro·mo·so·mal·ly adverb
  • non·chro·mo·so·mal adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of chromosome1

First recorded in 1885–90; chromo- + -some 3
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Compare Meanings

How does chromosome compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

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Example Sentences

He named chromosomes in 1888, before their exact nature was well-known.

The scientists were especially interested in their telomeres—protective DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes that act a bit like the caps on the ends of shoelaces.

Kelly experienced changes in his gut microbiome, his cognitive abilities slowed down, certain genes would turn off and on, and his chromosomes experienced structural changes.

In a study published last month, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tracked an important part of the memory-making process at the molecular scale in engram cells’ chromosomes.

Each of Hsal’s cells carries 25 copies of its chromosome, which fragment and reassemble after a high radiation dosage.

And yet they proved to have the same virus fossils in the exact same chromosome amid billions of possibilities.

Carried distinctly through men, the Y chromosome only gives a portion of the entire mitochondrial DNA.

It's not delirium tremors and chromosome breakage and only a small number of users would be seriously harmed.

Once it was shown that women can have a single X chromosome (just as men can have two of them) that was abandoned as well.

What does it mean, really, if your 14-week-old fetus has a deletion on chromosome 12?

This X chromosome has also the factor for the development of red-eye pigment.

The accessory chromosome has been now observed in most of the great divisions of insects, except, as it happens, Lepidoptera.

Montgomery afterward showed that Henkings nucleolus was an accessory chromosome.

The chromosome situation in Protenor is a somewhat extreme case, inasmuch as one X chromosome is entirely lacking in the male.

On the basis of the chromosome theory the following explanation could be given of this numerical relation.

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chromosomal aberrationchromosome band