Biol. the nonliving covering or separating wall of a cell; esp., the relatively rigid covering of a plant cell, containing cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, etc.
noun
The definition of a cell wall is the protective coating for a plant cell.
An example of a cell wall is the rigid cellulose outside the cell membrane of a plant.
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cell wall
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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cell wall
noun
The rigid outermost cell layer found in plants and certain algae, bacteria, and fungi but absent from animal cells.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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The outermost layer of cells in plants, bacteria, fungi, and many algae that gives shape to the cell and protects it from infection. In plants, the cell wall is made up mostly of cellulose, determines tissue texture, and often is crucial to cell function.
Compare cell membrane
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Noun
(plural cell walls)
- (cytology) A thick, fairly rigid, layer formed around individual cells of bacteria, Archaea, fungi, plants, and algae (but not animals and other protists which generally have cell membranes without cell walls). The cell wall is external to the cell membrane and serves a structural function helping the cell maintain its shape and protecting the cell from damage.
Noun
(plural cell-walls)
- Rare spelling of cell wall.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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cell wall - Medical Definition
n.
The rigid outermost cell layer found in plants and certain algae, bacteria, and fungi but absent from animal cells.
The American Heritage Dictionary of Medicine © 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Sentence Examples
- The three cells at the opposite end are known as antipodal cells and become invested with a cell-wall.
- They soon acquire a cell-wall, and germinate without a period of rest.
- The growth of the cell-wall takes place by the addition of new layers to those already formed.
- The most obvious distinction is that the animal cell-wall is either absent or composed of a nitrogenous material, whereas the plant cell-wall is composed of a carbohydrate material - cellulose.
- There is, however, considerable variation in the nature of the membrane in different species; thus the cell-wall of Oedogonium, treated with sulphuric acid and iodine, turns a bright blue, while the colour is very faint in the case of Spirogyra, the wall of which is said to consist for the most part of pectose.
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WORDS NEAR cell wall IN THE DICTIONARY
- cell wall
- cell switching
- cell tax
- cell-theory