an animal that acts as host to a parasite that has not yet become sexually mature
intermediate host in American English
the organism on or in which a parasite lives during an immature stage
intermediate host in American English
noun
Biology
the host in which a parasite undergoes development but does not reach sexual maturity
Word origin
[1875–80]This word is first recorded in the period 1875–80. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: graph, knockabout, massage, neoclassic, slime mold
Examples of 'intermediate host' in a sentence
intermediate host
But civets were only intermediate hosts — horseshoe bats are now believed to have been the real source of the outbreak.