met·a·plasm 1
(mĕt′ə-plăz′əm)n. Alteration of a word by the addition, omission, or transposition of sounds or syllables or the letters that represent them.
[Middle English
metaplasmus, from Latin, from Greek
metaplasmos,
remodeling, from
metaplassein,
to remold :
meta-,
meta- +
plassein,
to mold; see
pelə- in
Indo-European roots.]
met′a·plas′tic (-plăs′tĭk), met′a·plas′mic (-plăz′mĭk) adj.
met·a·plasm 2
(mĕt′ə-plăz′əm)n. Cellular materials such as pigment granules or starch grains that were formerly considered to be nonliving, in contrast to the protoplasm.
met′a·plas′mic (-plăz′mĭk) 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.
metaplasm
(ˈmɛtəˌplæzəm) n (Physiology) the nonliving constituents, such as starch and pigment granules, of the cytoplasm of a cell
ˌmetaˈplasmic adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014