mutation

Mutation is the act or process of changing into a different form, or someone or something with an odd or unusual form.

(noun)

When a woman drinks alcohol when she is pregnant and causes the cells of the fetus to change and morph into abnormal cells, this process of the cells changing is an example of mutation.
When the cell of a fetus has become irregular or abnormal because of exposure to alcohol or drugs, the abnormality is an example of a mutation.

See mutation in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

a changing or being changed
a change, as in form, nature, qualities, etc.
Biol.
1. a sudden variation in some inheritable characteristic in a germ cell of an individual animal or plant, as distinguished from a variation resulting from generations of gradual change
2. an individual resulting from such variation; mutant
3. an abrupt and relatively permanent change in somatic cells that is transmitted only to daughter cells and can be inherited only in plants that reproduce asexually
Linguis.
1. umlaut (sense )
2. alternation of consonants under specific conditions, as in variations in the initial consonant of a word in Irish and other Celtic languages

Origin: ME mutacioun < OFr mutacion < L mutatio < mutare, to change: see miss

Related Forms:

See mutation in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

The act or process of being altered or changed.
An alteration or change, as in nature, form, or quality.
Genetics
a. A change of the DNA sequence within a gene or chromosome of an organism resulting in the creation of a new character or trait not found in the parental type.
b. The process by which such a change occurs in a chromosome, either through an alteration in the nucleotide sequence of the DNA coding for a gene or through a change in the physical arrangement of a chromosome.
c. A mutant.
Linguistics The change that is caused in a sound by its assimilation to another sound, such as umlaut.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English mutacioun

Origin: , from Old French mutacion

Origin: , from Latin mūtātiō, mūtātiōn-

Origin: , from

Origin: past participle of mūtāre, to change; see mutate

Related Forms: