cell wall

cell wall

n.

The rigid outermost cell layer found in plants and certain algae, bacteria, and fungi but characteristically absent from animal cells.

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cell wall

The outermost layer of cells in plants, bacteria, fungi, and many algae that gives shape to the cell and protects it from infection. In plants, the cell wall is made up mostly of cellulose, determines tissue texture, and often is crucial to cell function. Compare cell membrane.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

cell wall - a rigid layer of polysaccharides enclosing the membrane of plant and prokaryotic cells; maintains the shape of the cell and serves as a protective barrier layer - a relatively thin sheetlike expanse or region lying over or under another plant cell - a cell that is a structural and functional unit of a plant