metazoicadj.
/ˌmɛtəˈzəʊɪk/, U.S. /ˌmɛdəˈzoʊɪk/ Zoology.
= metazoan adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > [adjective]
metazoan1876
metazoic1877
1877 T. H. Huxley Man. Anat. Invertebrated Animals i. 47 What distinguishes the metazoic aggregate is that, though its component blastomeres also retain a certain degree of physiological independence, they remain united into one morphological whole.
1905 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 10 592 All the organic forms with which any but the microscopist is familiar belong to this metazoic stage.
1938 Sci. Monthly July 52/2 Certain metazoic parasites may change normal tissue into cancerous tissue.
1964 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 52 613 The sufficiency of this stage [sc. the level of the cell] is attested..by the ease with which cells of metazoic origin revert to an independent state under culture in vitro.
1985 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 82 7515/1 Yeast [ribosomal protein] S10 carries no more than two phosphates, whereas metazoic S6 can carry at least five.
1994 Jrnl. Plankton Res. 16 151 Planktonic larvae..formed 50–70% of the metazoic plankton organisms during winter.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1877