vesicle

ves·i·cle  (vs-kl)

n.

1. A small bladderlike cell or cavity.

2. Anatomy A small sac or cyst, especially one containing fluid.

3. Pathology A serum-filled blister formed in or beneath the skin.

4. Geology A small cavity formed in volcanic rock by entrapment of a gas bubble during solidification.

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[Middle English, from Old French vesicule, from Latin vscula, diminutive of vsca, bladder, blister.]

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vesicle

Noun

Biol

1. a small sac or cavity, esp. one filled with fluid

2. a blister [Latin vesica bladder, sac]

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vesicle  (vs-kl)

1. A small fluid-filled sac in the body.

2. A membrane-bound sac in eukaryotic cells that stores or transports the products of metabolism in the cell and is sometimes the site for the breaking down of metabolic wastes. Vesicles bulge out and break off from the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus. Vesicles get their energy for mobility from ATP. Lysosomes and peroxisomes are vesicles.

3. A small cavity formed in volcanic rock by entrapment of a gas bubble during solidification.

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vesicular adjective (v-sky-lr, v-)

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

vesicle - a small anatomically normal sac or bladderlike structure (especially one containing fluid) cyst dacryocyst, lacrimal sac, tear sac - either of the two dilated ends of the lacrimal ducts at the nasal ends of the eyes that fill with tears secreted by the lacrimal glands dictyosome, Golgi apparatus, Golgi body, Golgi complex - a netlike structure in the cytoplasm of animal cells (especially in those cells that produce secretions) sac - a structure resembling a bag in an animal bleb, bulla, blister - (pathology) an elevation of the skin filled with serous fluid follicle - any small spherical group of cells containing a cavity liposome - an artificially made microscopic vesicle into which nucleic acids can be packaged; used in molecular biology as a transducing vector