catabolismn.
/kəˈtabəlɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /kəˈtæbəˌlɪzəm/ Biology.
That phase of the metabolism of living bodies which consists in the breaking down of complex organic compounds into simpler ones; destructive metabolism.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > metabolism > [noun] > types of
disassimilation1809
dissimilation1830
anabolism1886
catabolism1889
basal metabolism1914
hypometabolism1932
hypermetabolism1937
cryptobiosis1959
methylotrophy1972
1889 M. Foster Text Bk. Physiol. (ed. 5) II. v. 807 Wherever destructive metabolism, katabolism, is going on, heat is being set free.
1889 P. Geddes & J. A. Thomson Evol. Sex ii. 27 The male reproduction is associated with preponderating katabolism.
1889 Nature 26 Sept. 525/1 The words in question, ‘anabolism’, which being interpreted means winding up, and ‘catabolism’, running down, are the creation of Dr. Gaskell. Prof. Hering's equivalents for these are ‘assimilation’, which, of course, means storage of oxygen and oxidizable material, and ‘disassimilation’, discharge of these in the altered form of carbon dioxide and water.
1894 B. Kidd Social Evol. ix. 287 The tendency—by itself disintegrating and destructive—known as katabolism.
1957 Encycl. Brit. XV. 303/1 The manifold chemical transformations involved in the building up (anabolism) of more complex materials and the breaking down (catabolism) of these and other substances… exchange and storage of energy occur—storage of energy in anabolic and release of energy in catabolic change.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
n.1889