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Glite Dictionary
clonally

clonally

1 7.6
In a way that makes identical copies of a plant or cell
  • adverb
  • /ˈkloʊnəli/
  • Specialized
: clonalmente
  • To achieve uniform growth, the botanist clonally propagated the rare flower species in her lab.
  • clonally propagated

Examples

  • "Apomixis allows corn to reproduce seed clonally, causing seed to breed true from year to year and enabling farmers to maintain high-yielding varieties indefinitely," says Kindiger.

    Academic text (1997)

  • In biotechnology, scientists clonally replicate cells to create genetically identical samples for research.

  • The lack of seed set considerably increases the time costs of establishing the crop, as it must be clonally propagated.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Farmers often choose to grow hybrid crops because they can be clonally reproduced to ensure consistent quality.

Surface Forms

clonally positive

Morphology

clonally = clonal (transparent) = clone + al + ly

Formed from 'clonal' + '-ly'; the adverbial meaning ('in a way relating to cloning') is directly predictable.

Etymology

Clonally comes from clone, which itself comes from an old Greek word klon meaning 'twig' or 'branch'. Think of taking a small branch to grow a new plant that is exactly the same, so to grow or copy something clonally is to make identical copies.