Mutation Definition
myo͝o-tāshən
mutations
noun
mutations
A changing or being changed.
Webster's New World
A change, as in form, nature, qualities, etc.
Webster's New World
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.
Webster's New World
The process by which such a change occurs, either through an alteration in the nucleotide sequence coding for a gene or through a change in the physical arrangement of the genetic material.
American Heritage Medicine
An individual resulting from such variation; mutant.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
- sport
- variation
- mutant
- chromosomal mutation
- genetic mutation
- deviation
- modification
- transubstantiation
- transmutation
- transmogrification
- transfiguration
- metamorphosis
- conversion
- change
- shift
Antonyms:
Other Word Forms of Mutation
Noun
Singular:
mutation
Plural:
mutationsOrigin of Mutation
-
Middle English mutacioun from Old French mutacion from Latin mūtātiō mūtātiōn- from past participle of mūtāre to change mutate
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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