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amoeba

The definition of an amoeba is a one-celled organism, common in water and soil, possessing no set cell organs, structure, or defining shape.

(noun)

An example of an amoeba is an invisible organism called Entamueba histolytica which is found in tropical areas that are unclean, and causes the deadly disease dysentery.

See amoeba in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun pl. amoebas or amoebae

a one-celled, microscopic organism belonging to any of several families of rhizopods that move and feed using pseudopodia and reproduce by fission; esp., any of a genus (Amoeba) found in soil or water or a parasitic genus (Entamoeba) found in higher animals and humans
something indefinite in shape or perpetually changing, like an amoeba

Origin: ModL < Gr amoibē, change < ameibein, to change

Related Forms:

amoebic adjective or amoeboid or amoeban

See amoeba in American Heritage Dictionary 4

also a·me·ba

noun pl. a·moe·bas also a·me·bas or a·moe·bae also a·me·bae (-bē)

Any of various one-celled aquatic or parasitic protozoans of the genus Amoeba or related genera, having no definite form and consisting of a mass of protoplasm containing one or more nuclei surrounded by a flexible outer membrane. It moves by means of pseudopods.

Origin:

Origin: New Latin, genus name

Origin: , from Greek amoibē, change

Origin: , from ameibein, to change; see mei-¹ in Indo-European roots

Related Forms: