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protoplasm
[proh-tuh-plaz-uhm]
noun
Biology.(no longer in technical use) the colloidal and liquid substance of which cells are formed, excluding horny, chitinous, and other structural material; the cytoplasm and nucleus.
Obsolete.the living matter of organisms regarded as the physical basis of life, having the ability to sense and conduct stimuli.
protoplasm
/ ˈəʊəˌæə /
noun
biology the living contents of a cell, differentiated into cytoplasm and nucleoplasm
protoplasm
The semifluid, translucent substance that forms the living matter in all plant and animal cells. Composed of proteins, fats, and other substances suspended in water, it includes the cytoplasm and (in eukaryotes) the nucleus.
protoplasm
The jellylike material in a cell, both inside and outside the nucleus, where the chemical reactions that support life take place.
Other Word Forms
- protoplasmic adjective
- protoplasmal adjective
- protoplasmatic adjective
- interprotoplasmic adjective
- ˌdzٴˈ adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of protoplasm1
Word History and Origins
Origin of protoplasm1
Example Sentences
In the mid-1800s others, such as Darwin's supporter Thomas Henry Huxley, began to suspect that there was a generic form of “living matter”—often called protoplasm—from which the most primitive life-forms were fashioned.
“We just got a good lesson in how to be effective without moving protoplasm around,” he said.
“The differences in life expectancy are structural racism revealed — just the baseline differences — because there’s no difference in our protoplasm,” she said.
Ashley reprints, for example, “The Story of Yand Manor House,” in which Low encounters a mass of invisible protoplasm that smothers its victims.
Professor Huxley has not proved, and it is impossible for him to prove, that these protoplasms may not have essential points of difference.
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