a·moe·ba

also a·me·ba (ə-mē′bə)

n. pl. a·moe·bas or a·moe·bae (-bē) also a·me·bas or a·me·bae

Any of various one-celled free-living or parasitic protozoans having no definite form and moving by means of pseudopods.

[New Latin Amoeba, genus name, from Greek amoibē, change, from ameibein, to change; see mei- in Indo-European roots.]

a·moe′bic (-bĭk) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

amoeba

(əˈmiːbə) or

ameba

n, pl -bae (-biː) or -bas

(Animals) any protozoan of the phylum Rhizopoda, esp any of the genus Amoeba, able to change shape because of the movements of cell processes (pseudopodia). They live in fresh water or soil or as parasites in man and animals

[C19: from New Latin, from Greek amoibē change, from ameibein to change, exchange]

aˈmoebic, aˈmebic adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

a•me•ba

or a•moe•ba

(əˈmi bə)

n., pl. -bas, -bae (-bē).

1. any of numerous one-celled aquatic or parasitic protozoa of the order Amoebida, having a jellylike mass of cytoplasm that forms temporary pseudopodia, by which the organism moves and engulfs food particles.

2. a protozoan of the genus Amoeba, inhabiting bottom vegetation of freshwater ponds and streams: used widely in laboratory studies.

[1875–80; < New Latin amoeba < Greek amoibḗ change, alteration, n. derivative of ameíbein to exchange]

a•me′bic, adj.

a•me′boid, adj.

a·moe·ba

(ə-mē′bə)

Plural amoebas or amoebae (ə-mē′bē)

A one-celled microscopic organism that constantly changes shape by forming pseudopods, temporary projections that are used for movement and for the ingestion of food. Amoebas are members of the group of organisms called protozoans.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

amoeba - naked freshwater or marine or parasitic protozoa that form temporary pseudopods for feeding and locomotion

ameba

rhizopod, rhizopodan - protozoa characterized by a pseudopod

Amoebida, Amoebina, order Amoebida, order Amoebina - the animal order including amoebas

endameba - any ameba of the genus Endamoeba

Translations

амеба

amøbe

Amöbe

αμοιβάδα

ameba

amööb

amebat

amibe

ameba

amőba

amebaamoeba

amöba

amoeba

[əˈmiːbə] N (amoebas (amoebae (pl))) [əˈmiːbiː] → ameba f, amiba f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

amoeba

[əˈmiːbə] (British) ameba (US) n → amibe f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

amoeba

, (US) ameba

n → Amöbe f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

amoeba

ameba (Am) [əˈmiːbə] n → ameba

amoeba

, ameba

n. ameba, organismo de una sola célula.

amoeba

n (pl -bae o -bas) ameba or amiba

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

He had, it seems, been working of late upon the lowest forms of life, and what excited him at the present moment was that in the microscopic slide made up the day before he found the amoeba to he still alive.

But the right-hand side you will see an undoubted amoeba, moving sluggishly across the field.

"What can it matter whether the amoeba is alive or not?"

we may argue that every amoeba outside this room, instead of being dead, as you have erroneously stated, has really survived the catastrophe."

The human race is gone, extinguished in a day, but the planets swing round and the tides rise or fall, and the wind whispers, and all nature goes her way, down, as it would seem, to the very amoeba, with never a sign that he who styled himself the lord of creation had ever blessed or cursed the universe with his presence.

I expect you'll have to wait till little brother amoeba gets grown up before you'll find a reader.

View in context

Man has developed out of the animals, and there is no serious gap between him and the amoeba. Something closely analogous to knowledge and desire, as regards its effects on behaviour, exists among animals, even where what we call "consciousness" is hard to believe in; something equally analogous exists in ourselves in cases where no trace of "consciousness" can be found.

View in context

As shown in Figure 1, the hardware on which Amoeba runs contains a processor pool with several dozen processors.

Experiences with the Amoeba distributed operating system

The brain-eating amoeba enters through a person's nose and starts consuming brain tissue.

Naegleria takes youngster's life in Karachi

The infection was caused by the amoeba naturally present in warm freshwater during the summer, the state Department of Health and Human Resources said in a news release.

N.C. Man Dies of Brain-Eating Amoeba After Visiting Water Park; Infection can occur when Naegleria fowleri-contaminated water enters body through the nose