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Glite Dictionary
ameba

ameba

1 7.9
A tiny animal made of one cell that moves and eats by forming temporary arms
  • noun
  • /əˈmiːbə/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ameba
  • Scientists study how an ameba responds to its environment in the lab.

Any creatures that then exist will be as different from us as we are from bacteria or amoeba.

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Examples

  • OK, so the amoeba can flow around something and ingest it, or it can pull away.

  • An ameba can move and feed by extending its pseudopods.

  • "They're large cells, about the size of an ameba."

    Fiction book (1998)

  • We started off as a teeny, teeny little one celled amoeba, tiny, just sticking on to a rock and now, voila, the brain.

  • Under a microscope, you can see the intricate movement of an ameba through the water.

Synonyms

rhizopod
vsameba
  • Archaic
9.9

A tiny single-celled animal that moves and eats using arm-like parts

is more specific about single cells and habitats like freshwater, marine, or parasitic
rhizopodan
vsameba
  • Archaic
9.9

A tiny single-celled animal that moves and eats using temporary arm-like parts

focuses on single-celled organisms and their habitats rather than the group label

Surface Forms

ameba singular
amebas plural
amoebas plural
amoeba singular

Etymology

The word ameba comes from a Greek word amoibe meaning 'change', because these tiny cells move by changing shape and pushing out 'false feet' to catch food. So the name ameba reminds us that this organism moves and eats by changing its shape.