homeostasis

The definition of homeostasis is the ability or tendency to maintain internal stability in an organism to compensate for environmental changes.

(noun)

An example of homeostasis is the human body keeping an average temperature of 98.6 degrees.

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See homeostasis in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

  1. Physiol. the tendency to maintain, or the maintenance of, normal, internal stability in an organism by coordinated responses of the organ systems that automatically compensate for environmental changes
  2. any analogous maintenance of stability or equilibrium, as within a social group

Origin: ModL: see homeo- & stasis

Related Forms:

See homeostasis in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
The ability or tendency of an organism or cell to maintain internal equilibrium by adjusting its physiological processes.

Related Forms:

  • hoˌme·o·statˈic (-stătˈĭk) adjective

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